Carrot Cake Recipe (Vegan + Easy) (2024)

FAQs

Why is butter not used in carrot cake? ›

Carrot cake is oil-based, rather than butter-based. This keeps it moist and helps it last for days. Unfortunately, it also means you lose the leavening power that creaming butter and sugar would bring. (Creaming, or beating together the two ingredients on high speed, aerates the butter.)

Baking (Carrot Cake)

For baking, try grated parsnips, rutabaga, or zucchini. If using zucchini, squeeze out some water. These alternatives are all featured in spice cakes similar to carrot cake, so they will produce a similar result.

Carrots contain pigments that are sensitive to changes in pH balance. When the shreds of carrot come into contact with the alkaline baking soda, a chemical reaction takes place that causes the pigments to change color. Ipso facto, green carrots!

Well, oil makes cakes soft and that gives the perception of moistness. It keeps the crumb tender. If there is too much oil, then the cake will be dense and heavy and air bubbles will not be able to sustain themselves in the batter.

Carrot cake is one of those sneaky little desserts that make you believe you're being virtuous (it's got carrots!), but it can be quite high in sugar and calories. One generous slice of traditional carrot cake with cream cheese frosting has around 650 calories.

Vegetable oil produces a more moist, tender cake than butter. Yes, butter generally tastes better, but it makes the cake come out a little firmer than I like. Don't worry—there's plenty of butter in the frosting to make up for it.

Carrot cake (also known as passion cake) is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.

The misinformation contained in these three sentences boggles the mind. Carrot cake is self-evidently not a pie. Carrots absolutely enhance the flavor of carrot cake—it's not like all their flavor compounds evaporate while the cake is baking.

5. My cake has sunk in the middle. There are three main reasons for this: a/ the oven door has been opened before the cake has set, b/ the cake didn't go in the oven as soon as the mixture was ready or c/ there's too much raising agent.

Leaving the peel on your carrots when you add them to your cake can leave a bitter flavour, so we suggest peeling your carrots before grating them into your mixture.

Why is my carrot cake too moist? ›

The ratio of wet to dry ingredients determines a cake's moisture level. If there's simply too much flour and not enough butter, a cake will taste dry. On the other hand, if there's too much milk and not enough flour, a cake will taste too wet. Finding the right balance between wet and dry ingredients is key.

Roasting intensifies the flavour by removing water. Try not to brown them too much though, which will give them a burnt-sugar taste. Use complimentary spices. Mace, which is the dried membrane that surrounds nutmeg, compliments and enhances the flavour of carrots very well.

It is a carrot cake, after all. Pecans and Raisins: These add texture, but they are optional. Reading through the comment section, it is clear that some people love nuts and raisins in carrot cake, while others cannot stand them. I love them, but add what you love!

By finely shredding them, they integrate into the crumb of the cake more evenly. I don't blot or remove moisture from the carrots in this recipe. Carrots also contain juices, which provide moisture and also flavor.

You can use frozen carrots to make carrot cake, but you need to shred them before freezing — use the same process as above but be sure to peel the carrots before shredding and blanch them for less time. Here are a few recipes to get you started.

The water that's present in butter strengthens the gluten in a cake's flour, resulting in a crumb that's more dense and not quite as tender as a cake made with oil.

This can happen for several reasons: If your eggs are just slightly too cold, they may cause the soft butter to seize up, breaking the emulsion. Or if you rush while beating in the eggs, the emulsion won't be stable enough to hold in place.

Provides Flavor

Baking with fats creates a rich tasting experience and more flavor overall. Another plus: cakes and cookies will be moister when baking with fat. Overall, baked goods made with fat taste better, that's a fact 😊.

The job of butter in baking (besides being delicious) is to give richness, tenderness and structure to cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. We alter the way butter works in a recipe by changing its temperature and choosing when to combine it with the other ingredients.