Why-I-Joined-Zaar Carrot Cake

Bye-bye bakery carrot cake, hello homemade! This recipe is amazing as written & we are so happy to have found it!!! We do make a few substitutions: sub whole wheat pastry flour, pare down the sugar to 1 1/4 cups, decrease oil to 1/2 cup & add 1/2 cup applesauce, and add 1/2 cup golden raisins. We prefer to bake this in 2 round cake pans for 30-35 minutes, though it works well as sheetcake & cupcakes alike. This recipe is fabulous as written & provides endless options for those who want to tweak it just so. Thank you for getting me out of the bakery & into the kitchen for outstanding carrot cake!

This recipe definitely deserves 5 stars! I made cupcakes instead and took them to work only to receive raving reviews. One lady said it's better than anything she could get store-bought. Some modifications I made after reading previous reviews: 1) applesauce instead of oil, 2) pecans instead of walnuts, 3) decreased to 1 cup of sugar 4) baked 18-20 minutes since I made cupcakes. Also, I let the dried coconut soak for about 15 minutes in boiled water. Then I strained it and added to the batter. That way the coconut is not as dry. Finally, I used a piping tip to swirl the icing on top...they looked absolutely delightful =)

Looking for a delicious cake recipe and came across this one. It looked like a carrot cake recipe I had clipped from a magazine many years ago, so I thought I'd check to see how it was different. I discovered it was the same recipe (although the frosting uses only 3 oz. of cream cheese), but noticed the directions were a little more specific for the cake. My recipe says to use sifted flour and then, before adding wet ingredients, says to sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl. Thought I would mention it as I think this helps to assure all of the dry ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Additional comment (next day): Another change, I think that makes the directions clearer is to use sifted confectioner's sugar (called Icing sugar in the recipe) and also add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. It made a nice creamy easy-to-use frosting. I made my cake in two 9-inch round pans (baked for 40 minutes) and had plenty of frosting (using the 8 oz. package of light cream cheese) to frost both layers.

Well, after sitting and reading ALL 280+ reviews, I decided to make this recipe into cupcakes, to serve at my wedding in 2 days! I realized that I had NEVER made my fiance his favorite cake from scratch, probably because I didn't think I liked carrot cake - WRONG!. I just finished making 2 batches, and am thinking of making another, I am sure they are going to be a BIG hit! They are SO moist! I can't wait for them to sit a bit for the spices to come to full flavor. The preparation went quickly- after grating the carrots. I did incorporate a few changes as recommended in some of the reviews... 1) cut sugar to 1 cup, 2) 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce for half the oil, 3) added 1/2 tsp. nutmeg & 1/2 tsp. allspice, 4) added an extra 1/2 cup carrots, 5) omitted coconut & walnuts to appease fiance and new in-laws =), 6) baked 18 minutes for cupcakes - yielded approx. 18 cupcakes per batch, using an ice cream scoop to measure. I have only tried one w/o frosting, I think they will definitely be sweet enough once frosted, I like the extra spice, yet it isn't overpowering, I think the applesauce helps to "lighten" the finished product and reduces the chance of "sinking", and I love the pineapple! I used the frosting recipe, but added 1 tsp. vanilla. Will definitely update after the wedding! Thanks for the recipe! I am so glad I decided to try it!

I'm not sure what another 5 star review is going to do for something that is already rated so high, but I'll give it a shot. I thought this cake was outstanding. I love carrot cake and I think I am a good judge of a quality cake. I did make a few changes. First, I hate walnuts so i substituted pistachios. I skipped the coconut, because I can not see a purpose other than an extra flavor to distract from the already solid flavor foundation. I also added some fresh ground nutmeg and some ground ginger since I think they are good complimentary spices. Now the frosting is insanely good. I think it will go good on anything. Cake, scones, muffins, spoons, fingers, maybe even a steak. All in all, this is a great recipe and I know why it is so highly rated.