The Best Carrot Cake, Ever!

Best Carrot Cake, Ever!
Best Carrot Cake, Ever!

Gonna brag, because my carrot cake recipe is truly world famous! Everyone who tastes it, loves it. It’s the most requested cake by my family and friends. It’s always the birthday cake of choice for my youngest daughter. And, when my neighbor found out he had to follow a gluten-free and dairy-free diet, the first thing he thought about was missing my carrot cake!

You know what they say about needing 10,000 hours to perfect something? Well, I’ve put in the hours because I’ve been making this cake since I was 15. My roommate in high school’s mom made this for us when we first visited and I had to have the recipe.

What makes this carrot cake delicious is the simplicity of the ingredients (the only add-ins are carrots; there are no pineapples, walnuts, raisins, or coconut) as well as the generous 2 cups of grated carrots. It’s also made with 2 cups of sugar, so it’s sweet and moist. I’ve tweaked the original recipe by using 1/2 a cup of yogurt and 1 cup of canola oil, instead of the 1 1/2 cups of oil the original recipe calls for. I think this makes the difference in how moist the cake is. You can, of course, use 1 1/2 cups of oil if you don’t have yogurt on hand (and, if you want to keep the cake portion dairy-free.)

Best Carrot Cake, Ever!
Best Carrot Cake, Ever!

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Rainbow Bit Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

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The kids came home from camp last week and my husband asked if I was going to bake a cake.  I think he secretly wanted one because I had never baked a welcome home cake for them before!  He chose a rainbow bit cake with cream cheese frosting which was a great idea because it is so colorful and happy.

This cake comes from a Betty Crocker cake mix which was easy enough. Finding the Rainbow Bit flavor was a bit harder.  As I made several calls to find a retailer that carried this flavor, I got to wondering about the origin of a rainbow bit cake.

What I found out is that this is basically a funfetti cake in a box.  I had never heard of a funfetti cake before!  It’s a white cake with sprinkles or rainbow chips (made with colored white chocolate bits) baked in. There are many recipes online and one even includes a recipe for making homemade sprinkles, here. Continue reading

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A Yummy Lemon Carrot Cake

Yummy Lemon Carrot Cake photo copyright 2015 Alex R
Yummy Lemon Carrot Cake
photo copyright 2015 Alex R

When I moved to North America, it was to go to a boarding school to complete high school. My roommate’s mother made us mouth-watering cakes on each of our visits to her home. I fell in love with her carrot cake and still have that index card with the recipe on it, in my teenage handwriting. I have made slight modifications to the recipe like substituting yogurt for some of the oil and using light cream cheese and more icing sugar in the frosting.

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I also make the cake in 2 eight inch round pans instead of 3 because I only own 2 round pans! I use a third pan – a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan. We eat the loaf cake as soon as it gets out of the oven, or I ice it for a quick family dinner dessert. The cake is so good that my kids would think I was cruel if I made a big round cake for someone else and didn’t make something for them! Continue reading

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