How can I make a carrot cake with only a few of the required ingredients?

Baking soda (bicarb) makes a cake lighter and fluffier. According to About you can substitute 2–3 times the baking powder for the baking soda because baking powder is 2 parts cream of tartar to one part baking soda. The question is, what does that much cream of tartar do to a cake? Apparently it solidifies the egg whites in a recipe.

Quite frankly, have you thought about going to a neighbor and borrowing some baking soda? It would be much easier.

I will add that if you are not good at baking, and don’t have the right ingredients, combining recipes is not a good idea if you expect to eat the results or unless you are baking because you are bored and don’t mind wasting the ingredients you do have.

Try browsing the carrot cake recipes at www.allrecipes.com. You’ll probably find a recipe that lets you use the ingredients you have, and there’s a button on each recipe to convert the measurements to metric.

I don’t know anything about castor sugar, like whether or not you can substitute that for white sugar. I often replace half the white sugar with brown in a lot of recipes for cookies and quick breads, but I don’t know how that would affect a cake.

@PandoraBoxx That would probably be a pointless endeavour as I am living near a uni where everyone here seems to be students. I doubt many students would be carrying baking soda :p.

Wholemeal flour will give a nuttier, deeper grain flavor to the cake. (Also makes it healthier, but it’s cake so “healthy” probably doesn’t matter, heh.)

Personally, I like the earthier flavor that whole grains provide. I imagine they might go very well in a carrot cake.

If you are using whole grain flour, it’s harder to make fluffy (it’s denser and heavier), so if the bicarb makes the cake fluffier, you might not need that extra fluff if you’re not using whole grain flour. Not using either may kill two ingredients with one stone, there.

Also, carrot cake icing is traditionally made with a cream cheese base – that slight tang sets off the cake beautifully. I’ve actually never had carrot cake without it.

Recipes that contain both baking powder and baking soda typically also contain some other acidic ingredient (like yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk) that will react with the soda to produce CO2 (that’s what the cream of tartar does in the baking powder substitution). If you were to omit the soda in those recipes, you could bump up the quantity of baking powder to get the same leavening effect, but the overall flavor will stlll be more acidic because that acidic ingredient remains un-neutralized.

Have you ruled out cupcakes?

Purple carrots would be choice. They have a more vibrant flavor and some added health benefits.

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups finely shredded carrots (a food processor is great for this)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs

Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners if desired.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly while mixing. Mix at high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl every minute.

Pour batter into cupcake liners until they are ½ to ⅔ full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in pans then move to wire rack to cool completely.

These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are especially good with a cream cheese frosting, but my kids prefer them with no frosting at all.

what does “cba” mean?

another good site is epicurious.com

recipes are very precise and often a slight alteration will produce bad results. better to try to use exactly what is called for in the recipe, than waste those valuable ingredients and time spent to have something that does not rise or some other problem.

Here’s a recipe that uses only your ingredients. Because you’re using self-rising flour, there’s no need for either baking powder or baking soda (bicarb). This recipe uses only white sugar, which lets you get by without the bicarb (which is needed to counteract the acidity of the molasses in brown sugar). This will produce a less richly-flavored cake, however. You might want to jazz it up with a dash of vanilla and some grated lemon or orange zest to make it more interesting.

• 400g castor sugar
• 375 ml vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 400g self-rising flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ litre grated carrot

Preparation:
In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, oil, and eggs; beat well. Blend in flour and cinnamon. Add carrots, stirring until well blended. Pour into a generously greased and floured 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour, or until cake springs back when lightly touched with finger.

@scamp cba= “can’t be arsed” (can’t be bothered)

You can make a simple icing for the cake by beating icing sugar and water together or look online for a buttercream frosting recipe. Carrot cake is traditionally served with a cream cheese frosting which is delicious; I often make it with an orange buttercream frostimg which works really well. I add a lot of other things to my carrot cake like crushed pineapple and raisins which make it really moist and rich. Personally, particularly if I were an inexperienced baker, I would wait until I could get all of the requisite ingredients before making a new recipe.

Martha Stewart has one in her baking book which has fresh ginger and ginger powder. fresh ginger really gives it a nice zing. if you don’t have fresh, throw in a little powder.

I like my carrot cake with cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as with nuts and raisins. Something like this:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder >>>>>Note: with self-rising flour you won’t need this
* 2 teaspoons baking soda >>>>>Note: with self-rising flour you won’t need this
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 2 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1⅓ cups vegetable oil or 1 cup of unsweetened apple sauce and ⅓ cup of oil
* 4 cups grated carrots
* ¾ cup chopped walnuts >>>>>Note: you can leave these out if you have to
*¾ cup raisins >>>>>Note: you can leave these out if you have to

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and eggs until thick and pale. Stir in the oil, then gradually mix in the sifted dry ingredients. Fold in the carrots and nuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. When cool, frost with your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting, or white Buttercream frosting, or serve with whipped cream or powdered sugar on top.

@Harp thanks! :)

Did you know that Duncan Hines now has carrot cake mix in a box. You only add eggs and oil. Can’t get any easier than that. I have made this box mix several times and its just as good as home made without all the work.

Let us know what you did and how it turns out.