Carrot Cake Lab260 recipes

Carrot Cake Lab · Calculator

Design your own carrot cake

The sliders start at the typical cake: the median of 260 recipes for each ingredient, in grams per 100 g of flour. Move any of them within the range that 90% of recipes use (the 5th to the 95th percentile) and the grams update, with where your choice sits among the recipes and what that ingredient does.

This scales ratios; it is not a tested recipe. Each ingredient moves on its own against the flour, and a combination no recipe uses may not bake the way you expect. For the method, pan and oven, follow the real recipes nearest your numbers.

Flour

250 g, about 2 cups, makes one typical cake.

Start from a recipe

Grams per 100 g of flour

  1. 265 g · 106%

    In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 49% less.

    Grated carrot is moisture and sweetness; more of it makes a heavier, moister cake.

  2. 265 g · 106%about 1 1/3 cups

    In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 49% less.

    White and brown sugar together; brown adds the molasses note carrot cake is known for.

  3. 195 g · 78%about 3/4 cup

    In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 51% less.

    Almost always oil, which keeps the cake moist for days and lets the spices show.

  4. 170 g · 68%about 3 1/2 large eggs

    In the middle: 49% of recipes use more, 50% less.

    Several eggs hold a wet, heavy batter together.

  5. 5 g · 1.9%

    In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 49% less.

    Mostly cinnamon, with nutmeg, ginger or cloves in some.

  6. 12 g · 4.8%

    In the middle: 49% of recipes use more, 44% less.

    Baking soda, often with powder, to lift the carrots and nuts.

  7. 1.5 g · 0.6%

    In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 49% less.

    Salt balances the sweet frosting to come.

Your carrot cake

Your carrot cake in grams, with approximate volumes
IngredientGrams
Flour250 gabout 2 cups
Carrot265 g
Sugarwhite sugar, brown sugar, honey and syrups265 gabout 1 1/3 cups
Fatbutter, oil and shortening195 gabout 3/4 cup
Eggwhole eggs, yolks and whites170 gabout 3 1/2 large eggs
Spicecinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and other ground spices5 g
Leaveningbaking soda and baking powder12 g
Salt1.5 g
Total1,164 g

1,164 g in all from 250 g of flour, counting only the groups above.

Closest real recipe: Easy Carrot Cake (thereciperebel.com).

BakeThe median of 229 recipes is 350°F (175°C), most for 33 to 50 minutes at their own size. A bigger or smaller batch, or a different pan, changes the time.

The 3 real recipes nearest your numbers

Measured on carrot, sugar, fat, egg, spice, leavening and salt at once. These are published, tested recipes: follow one for its method, pan and timing, or load its percentages and adjust from there.

  1. 1

    Easy Carrot Cake · thereciperebel.com

    carrot 113% · sugar 116% · fat 64% · egg 68% · spice 1.8% · leavening 4.2% · salt 1%

  2. 2

    Gluten-Free Carrot Cake · tasteofhome.com

    carrot 118% · sugar 114% · fat 78% · egg 71% · spice 2.1% · leavening 4.3% · salt 0%

  3. 3

    Perfect Carrot Cake · butternutbakeryblog.com

    carrot 98% · sugar 119% · fat 88% · egg 59% · spice 2.7% · leavening 4.7% · salt 0.8%

How the calculator works

Every recipe is reduced to baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient group per 100 g of flour. The starting point is the median of all 260 recipes for each group separately, so no single recipe is exactly the starting cake. Grams are your flour weight times each percentage, rounded to the nearest 5 g above 50 g and the nearest gram or half gram below.

“More than 80% of recipes” counts the recipes with strictly less of that ingredient per gram of flour. The nearest recipes are measured on every ingredient at once, each scaled by how much recipes vary on it, so a wide-ranging ingredient does not outweigh a narrow one.

Only the groups listed are counted. Vanilla, spices, mix-ins and toppings are left out unless they have their own slider. Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, a large egg 50 g.