1. Grandma’s Original Carrot Cake Recipe
This is the classic carrot cake made with shredded carrots and nuts, usually walnuts or pecans. The carrots add moisture and a little color to the cake but hardly any flavor.
The cake is flavored with cinnamon. If your cinnamon is good, the recipe can handle more cinnamon, three teaspoons.
The cake mix is vanilla flavored, flavored with ground vanilla beans, vanilla specks. The frosting is made with vanilla extract. With the whipping cream, the frosting is very light and delightful.
Ingredients:
- 1 Vanilla Bean Cake Mix
- 3/4 cup grated carrots
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 cup nuts
Be sure to use whole carrots and grate them finely in your kitchen. Getting a package of grated carrots in the store and using them in the recipe will leave your carrot cake chunky and lumpy. The carrots don't cook until they are soft.
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
1. Mix the cake batter in your stand-type mixer, per package instructions.
2. Add the 3/4 cup grated carrots, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 3/4 cup nuts to the cake batter. Mix just until combined.
3. Spread the batter in a greased or parchment-lined 9 x 13-inch cake pan and bake for 23 minutes at 325 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
4. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Remove the cake (if you are using parchment paper) and transfer it to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
Cream cake frosting for carrot cakes
- 1 four-ounce package of cream cheese (or 1/2 of an eight-ounce block), softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons meringue powder
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions for the frosting:
Cream the granulated sugar with the cream cheese. Add the other ingredients and beat until light and fluffy.
Cream cheese frosting is traditional for carrot cakes. The flavor is okay, but the cream cheese makes the frosting heavy, rich, and overwhelming. Using a base of whipped cream in the frosting makes the frosting much lighter.
This recipe makes the best cream cheese frosting for carrot cake that we have found. It has the flavor of cream cheese frosting, but it is light, fluffy, and has volume.
Use this as an all-purpose frosting. Keep the recipe in your drawer or online and use it often.
2. Cinnamon Chip Carrot Cake
You can make this as cupcakes but you don't have to.
Make the cake accordding to the directions above but add one cup of cinnamon chips. Reduce the cinnamon to one teaspoon.
The cinnamon chips gives this cake a bright, spicy taste. There are enough cinnamon chips in the recipe for a burst of cinnamon in every bite. The cinnamon chips are made with Vietnamese cinnamon, which has a stronger, brighter flavor than Korintje Cassia cinnamon.
The cake mix is vanilla flavored, with ground vanilla and vanilla specks. The frosting is made with vanilla extract. With the whipping cream, the vanilla frosting is very light and delightful.
3. Coconut Isle Carrot Cake
This is a delightful carrot cake. With coconut flavor in both the cake and frosting, this is a very tropical, flavorful cake.
Delete the 3/4 cup of nuts from the original recipe and replace it with 3/4 cup of shredded coconut firmly packed into the measure.
For the frosting, delete the vanilla and add coconut flavor. Add one teaspoon and taste the frosting. Add another if needed.
4. Candied Ginger Carrot Cake:
This is a delightful carrot cake, my favorite. The candied ginger pieces add a ginger flavor but it’s more sweet than tart. The ginger in the frosting is optional, but ginger cream cheese frosting is very, very good.
I love these ginger pieces in my baking. For this cake, add 3/4 cup of the candied ginger pieces and drop the 3/4 cup of nuts in the ordinal recipe. I suppose you could try both but I've never tried it.
A teaspoon of ground ginger will absolutely transform your frosting. I seem to be more tolerant of ginger than many; try one-half teaspoon first. Add more if it tastes right.
5. Hawaiian Pineapple Carrot Cake
This is one fun carrot cake and always a hit in the store. Pineapple carrot cake is a popular variation
This is like the other recipes, but uses pineapple juice instead of water for the mix, along with the 3/4 cup of crushed pineapple.
Drain a can of crushed pineapple, reserving the juice. Replace the water in the instructions with the juice. Fold in 3/4 cup of well-drained pineapple into the batter.
You can use the vanilla in the original carrot cake recipe. But pineapple is versatile. A teaspoon of orange extract works well. Pineapple flavor works well, too.