Carrot Cake or Cupcakes

[snaffle]

Carrot Cake or cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups shredded carrots
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons vanilla

Put flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Mix together.

Add remaining ingredients and beat for 2 minutes.

Cake: pour into greased and floured 13 x 9 x 2 pan
Bake @ 325 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Check at 39 minutes with a toothpick. If a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the cake is done.

Cupcakes: fill paper lined cupcake pans ½ full
Bake @ 325 degrees for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Frost when cool:
3 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup chopped walnuts
2 cups powdered sugar

Stir all together and frost.

Calories: (approximate) whole cake: 6670 … cupcake: 140
Fat: (approximate) all cupcakes: 416… cupcake: 10

[Mary Ann]

Mmmm!!! This is one of my favorite kinds of cake! Too bad Dr Dan is such a goober about nuts, or we'd have this on Friday.

[DorothyB]

Mix it up except the nuts, then divide and add nuts to your 3/4 of the batter. You can make cupcakes for him and cupcakes for you!

I LOVE carrot cake. Each year our church does a spaghetti dinner and then has a cake auction afterwards. A friend makes AWESOME carrot cake and I always buy one of hers - and pay a LOT for it. Last year I had her do "mine" as 2 8x8 cakes because it stores / freezes better, but the presentation wasn't as "nice" for the auction. I read this and sent her an e-m. I may be buying carrot cup cakes this month.

[AmberC]

I'd leave the nuts out. I can't stand nuts in cake or brownies or anything like that. Soft food is supposed to be soft. I'm wierd about textures.

[Sheryl]

I have been itching to bake something - and this looks healthier then your average cake (it has carrots after all and walnuts are fattening, but good for you!).

[Mary Ann]

We'll be able to give you a review tomorrow. Snaffle's baking for Dr Dan Day.

[snaffle]

I made up a batch of cupcakes tonight.

Substituted stevia for sugar.

The substitution was 1 teaspoon of stevia powder for one cup of sugar.

I think they taste fine!! They may have needed one more minute of baking. I will let Mary Ann and Risky Reds be the judge of that.

Tune in tomorrow!!

(some of the cupcakes have nuts.. some dont )

[Mary Ann]

When you frost them you could put a half a walnut on the top of the nutty ones. That way *some* people won't risk contamination.

[snaffle]

When I baked the cupcakes using stevia instead of sugar, they looked the same in the oven.

I used the "toothppick insterted in the center" to test for doneness.

Toothpick came out clean.

I will have to do some experimenting to perfect the cupcake texture when using stevia. The cake part was very soft and moist. Almost like they were underbaked. Might have to be increasing the flour.

[Mary Ann]

I thought they were very good. Very moist and chewy.

[snaffle]

aw thanks Mary Ann...

In my research so far, I have noticed that comparable recipes seem to have twice the flour and not as many eggs.

I would like to cut the cup of oil down and use applesauce.

By the time I get done with all the subsitutions and changes, it won't be that great tasting carrot cake recipe I went gaga over years ago.

[Mary Ann]

No, but perhaps it'll be a healthier option for times that call for it.

[AmberC]

I asked about the Stevia thing on your conversion thread in Useful Stuff. I wouldn't use it personally, as I just use plain ol' real sugar, but it was just a thought in my head. It was lonely so I figured I'd let it out

[twoponys]

OMG snaffle this was so good! I told Jeff I wanted to make a dessert and asked if he had a preference. He said he wanted carrot cake. I have never made one, but I remember seeing this recipe. It is fantastic! It got rave reviews from him. He also asked me to make it when his dad visits since he likes carrot cake a lot.

[Deleted]

You can lower the fat content with low or no fat cream cheese... the no fat is horrible alone, but I've found cooking with it or mixing it with sweets makes it just fine to use. That's a lot of fat off if you substitute!

Plus as you said, maybe half the oil into applesauce (which I think would add a nice flavor), egg beaters instead of real eggs (which makes NO difference to the texture/flavor/rising of a cake).

You could make this darn near a healthy snack! I think I'll try it.