From a 2004 post of mine:
I've had this one for about 30 years, contributed to a community cookbook by one of the committee members. I have no idea from where she got it :-)

Carrot Cake

3 cups flour )
2 teaspoons baking soda ) stir together
2 teaspoons cinnamon )

1 1/2 cups oil or you can successfully substitute the same amount of apple sauce
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sugar
2 cups finely grated carrots
3 eggs
1 tin crushed pineapple, drained
I add: generous handful chopped pecans
generous handful sultanas/white raisins

Cream oil/applesauce and sugar, add vanilla and eggs. Mix in carrots and fruit/nuts. Stir in flour mixture and bake at 350F until done. The original recipe suggests using an angel food ring pan, I've used round pans, loaf pans, you name it. I see no reason why you couldn't use a 9" x 13" pan.

Similarly I can't see why you couldn't make this into muffins. Pretty sure I have, at some point.

Mom and I have made this carrot cake for years. It's a cream cheese icing, so it's not sickenly sweet. I also cut back on the icing sugar.
It uses crushed pineapple, very well drained.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
8 1/2 oz can crushed pineapple well-drained
3 1/2 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar****

In a large bowl sift flour baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Add sugar, eggs and oil and beat with electric mixer. Stir in carrots, pineapple and walnuts; mix well.

Grease and flour a 9x13" baking dish. Bake in 375 degree oven 45-55 minutes until done.

For icing, beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla. Add icing sugar and beat well. Cool cake and spread with icing and garnish with more chopped walnuts.

****I don't like icings, much less sweet ones, so I cut the icing sugar down to 1 cup. It's easily adjusted to your taste

edited to put full amount of icing sugar in original recipe

This post was edited by jasdip on Wed, Mar 5, 14 at 15:52

You should be able to make these recipes into cupcakes, just bake them for 15 or 20 minutes rather than the longer time needed with cake.

Colleen,

What is the weight of 1 tin crushed pineapple? TIA

Not sure (don't have one in the pantry ATM) but it's smallish, about 2 1/2" in diameter and the same in height.

I used to make an altered Food.com recipe. Link below. More recently, I've been using a gluten-free recipe for a single serving made in the microwave.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Delicious Carrot Cake Muffins

These all sound delicious, and thank you very much for posting. The reason I thought it would be fun to do muffins is that an entire cake is too much for the two of us to eat. I wonder if any of these recipes can be safely halved or adjusted to make less? Thanks again to the pros.

Sorry, I can't remember who, but a "GW friend" posted the carrot cake recipe linked below (April 2007?). I always made a half recipe and baked it in a 9-inch square pan. When cool, I would cut it into 4 pieces and make a 4-layer carrot cake "torte" - the perfect size for 2 people. I see no reason you can't do that with any carrot cake recipe that makes 2 layers.

If it ends up needing 1/2 an egg, just whisk a whole egg and use half of it (saving the other half another use - like scrambled eggs the next morning). Another thing you can do is to make a whole recipe and freeze one of the layers to use latter.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: The Fantabulous Whole Wheat Carrot Cake

Pink, warm mama, my carrot cake recipe makes a large cake, enough for a crowd, But it freezes beautifully. When I make it for family gatherings, and there is some left over, I always freeze it in squares.

I have a very good carrot cake recipe that uses both crushed pineapple and coconut... very old recipe from first issues of Bon Appetit. Anyway, I have also successfully made this cake in large muffin tins, small bread pans, and single layers. It freezes very well, so I don't think that should be of any concern.

Thanks Colleen.

Jasdip: does it freeze well after it's iced?

Lizbeth-gardener, absolutely. When I make it I always ice it, and cut in squares and freeze.

One thing I love about winter, when freezing something like cakes, cupcakes, etc with a frosting on, I stick the pan out on the balcony to freeze, then the plastic doesn't stick to the icing! I miss the use of the balcony as a freezer in the summer.....

Many thanks to all who replied with help. Probably I'll try every recipe as soon as Lent is over.

jasdip: More questions!

Is icing sugar the same as confectioners/powdered sugar? And when you say you cut down on the sugar-is the 1 cup already reduced or do you use less than one cup?

Hi Lizbeth,
Icing sugar is powdered/confectioners sugar. The original recipe calls for 2 cups, but I do cut back, generally to 1 cup. I'll amend the recipe to say that.

I never eat icings, as they are invariably too sweet, but this I like, because of the cream cheese, and I adjust the sugar to our taste.

Edited to clarify the icing sugar amounts.

This post was edited by jasdip on Wed, Mar 5, 14 at 15:54

Thanks Jasdip. I don't eat sugar, but love baking for GK and others. Makes it difficult when you can't take a taste to see if it's too sweet!

Islay, most recipes call for 2 cups of confectioners sugar, and I've seen another that calls for 3 cups!!! Ugh.

1 to 1 1/4 cups would be fine for your GK I would think. :D