So, the subject line sort of says it. I am about to try to bake a carrot cake for my husband's 30th birthday. I have, however, never baked a carrot cake before. Does anyone have a good recipe they can share with me? Preferably without nuts... I'm looking on the internet but you never quite know whether they're going to work or not! A personal recommendation from one of the denizens of this great pub would be wonderful, if anyone could oblige.

Thank you :-)

No i don't have any good recipes. sorry!

Not much help...but last weekend I ate a piece of homemade carrot cake. They used pineapple in it, too, and it was VERY good.

The Joy of Cooking is usually reliable for this sort of thing.

Try allrecipes.com. I use them for a lot of my cooking. Everything turns out wonderful. I have a carrot cake recipe here somewhere, I'll try and find it.

I've tried a fair few carrot cake recipes and never had one fail yet. There are many variations so take time to think how you'd like it to taste. Brown sugar vs white, which spices, nuts vs raisins vs pineapple vs none, cooked-mashed carrots vs shredded... and so on.
I second the allrecipes site, check the reviews for any hints and tips on altering the recipe.
Good luck!

I found it! I would just omit the nuts.

Carrot Cake

1 1/2 cup salad oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix in a mixer then add-
2 cups flour
2 tsp. soda

Mix, then add-
2 cups shredded carrots
1 can drained crushed pineapples
1 cup chopped nuts
2 cups flaked coconut
Mix together.

Put in 9x13" pan.
Bake 1 hour in a 350 degree oven.

Cream Cheese Icing

1-8oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup confectioners sugar

Warm to room temperature. Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar.

Now, I haven't made this recipe but I have eaten it and it was delicious. I collect recipes but rarely cook. (I know, I know. Weird)

Message edited by its author, Apr 16, 2009, 5:04pm.

OH OH OH! I have *THE MOST FANTABULOUS* carrot cake recipe *EVER* got it out of someone's family book- break out your carrot shredder (cheese graters) and a strong arm..........can omit the nuts -

the batter will seem very wet compared to normal cake batter....but oh so yum

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (can omit but oh so yum)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups grated carrots (way better if freshly grated)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple - drained

Combine dry ingredients, add sugar, oil, eggs, carrots, pineapple and nuts. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 40 minutes or until toothpick/knife comes out clean when inserted into it

unfortunately I am still on the hunt for the icing to do this nummy thing justice - most end up being overpoweringly sweet and are variations on what cal listed. The cake is fabulous without anything though :) the pineapple adds a wonderful crunch - so careful hubby may think you tried to slip him some nuts after all.

Cake

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teasp. baking soda
2 teasp. cinnamon
1 teasp. salt
3 cups grated carrots
4 eggs
1 teasp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
Mix in grated carrots, vanilla, eggs.
Beat, and add oil slowly.
Pour into a buttered 8"x12" pan, or two 8" diameter round pans.
Bake at 325 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until the center is done.
Let cool.
Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 lb. powdered sugar
rind of an orange
walnuts
Beat cream cheese, adding butter, orange rind, and vanilla.
Add powdered sugar in thirds, beating.
Frost cake, top with nuts.

Just omit the nuts !

Here is another one. Yum. Never fails!

Carrot cake

1 cup sugar 11/3 tsp baking powder
1 cup veg oil 11/2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs ½ cup chopped walnuts
1 ½ cup pl flour 2 cups grated carrot
1 1/3 tsp carb soda

Combine oil and sugar. Add beaten eggs gradually. Add dry ingredients. Add walnuts and carrots.

Bake in oven 180 C 40 mins

Icing

1 block philly cream cheese, 2 cups icing sugar, 4 tsp marg, 2 tsp vanilla. Mix together. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

PS. Make sure you peel the carrots otherwise you will end up with green bits in the cake. Don't know why, but the peel turns green.

pps Sorry I'm metric here!

Well I have a recipe that is very similar to the ones above except it uses black walnut extract instead of vanilla and, instead of a cream cheese frosting, it has a glaze. Here's the recipe for the glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon dark Karo (corn) syrup
1/2 cup Buttermilk
Stir everything together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. simmer over low heat for 3-5 minutes then pour over the cake whilst hot.
(The glaze reacts with metal baking pans so best to cook cake in a glass one)

What an embarrassment of riches! You guys rock :-D Now I just have to work out which one to go for...

I'll let you all know how it goes....

I have eaten Cal's recipe, and it is super yummy. But then, I don't think you could go wrong. What time is the party?

How about a pineapple cake?
Take a box of angel food cake mix. Add a can of crushed pineapple. Mix, bake.

Please don't judge me by this recipe! Honestly I am awesome in the kitchen, but I read this in an RV magazine and I'm blown away. Please let me know how it turns out, if anyone tries it.

I ended up doing a recipe pretty close to cal's - it was sort of an amalgam of one on allrecipes.com (thanks for the tip, I'm going to have to use the site again) with added pineapple and stuff. I did two round tins so that it could be a *proper* birthday cake but one was bigger than the other, so I had to chop the edge off one. However, this gave me the chance to sample it and ascertain that it does, in fact, taste like carrot cake! How exciting! Thanks for all your help guys! (Can you tell I'm new to this baking thing and always expect it to go horribly wrong?!)

13> People should be starting to turn up around now! It's sort of a drop-in-drop-out affair so friends with kids could come earlier and other friends can turn up later, when it all goes wild and we start playing board games... (oh yes, we're hardcore...)

Woo Hoo, board games. I love Trivial Pursuit!