AWhere I used to work they used a carrot mix and added a jar of carrot baby food. It is very crumbly though. My first day on the job, they had me stack 2 9x13 carrot cakes with cream cheese filling, and the top cake SHATTERED! It was horrifying, I thought I would be fired on the spot.
I was in search of a good scratch go to carrot cake, and tried several recipes a few weekends ago. I especially wanted to try baby food vs grated carrot. In general, at least with the recipes I tried, the ones with the baby food were very tasty, but too moist and dense for me. I liked the traditional carrot cakes better, (like those mom used to make) but was hoping for something just a tad bit "cakier" and less heavy and chunky. The best was Martha Stewart's fresh ginger cake, with the carrots grated very finely. Really great flavor and texture, and not too dense. Layers very nicely. It was still missing something though..... Made it again with finely chopped canned pineapple and it was wonderful! I have made it several times since for my trusty critics at home and at work and it was a hit. (I use juice packed canned pineapple well drained. I tried fresh pineapple once and it did not work at all).
3cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon table salt 8 oz medium carrots , peeled and grated, about 1.5 cups 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces) 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed 4 large eggs 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil or safflower, or canola oil
4 jars carrot baby food, 4 oz jars
1 cup raisins, optional.
Whisk dry ingredients in large bowl. Set aside. Whisk eggs and sugar in large bowl until frothy and sugar is mostly dissolved, about 1 minute. While whisking, slowly add the oil til mixture is thoroughly combined and emulsified, about 1 minute. Add baby food. Whisk in flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in carrots and raisins. Pour into pan. This makes about 7 cups of batter (I didn't note if that was with or without the raisins. I noted that 1/2 batch with raisins makes 18 cupcakes.
It is a variation of the America's Test Kitchen recipe, modified with the baby food. I adjusted the flour amount because of the liquid from the baby food. Also decreased the real carrots since the babyfood was upping the carrot flavor. I made it originally without the babyfood and couldn't taste the carrot, seemed just like a spice cake. I grew up with a mom and grandma that made carrot cake with baby food so decided to work with that to bump up the carrot flavor. Here is a site that has the ATK recipe. It uses a different mixing method which you could try also. http://www.cooking.com/recipes-and-more/RecAllReviews.aspx?rid=7640
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