Carrot Cake Lab260 recipes
← Carrot Cake Lab

What goes into carrot cake

The main ingredient list of all 260 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Most carrot cake recipes use oil (84%); 28% use butter, and 14% use both.
  • For sugar, 45% use white sugar alone, 26% white and brown sugar together, and 23% brown sugar alone.
  • For leavening, 37% use baking powder and baking soda together, 36% baking powder alone, and 18% baking soda alone.
  • For flour, 80% use all-purpose flour alone, 5% self-rising flour alone, and 3% no named flour.
  • 64% add nuts, 33% fruit and 9% coconut, candy or chips; 24% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 250 g of flour, the size of a typical cake. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical cake on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

  • Oil only

    median 190 g fat · closest to typical: Carrot Cake (chefsavvy.com)

    70%184 recipes

  • Butter only

    median 185 g fat · closest to typical: Carrot cake uit de airfryer (laurasbakery.nl)

    14%38 recipes

  • Oil and butter

    median 250 g fat · closest to typical: Easy Carrot Cake (thereciperebel.com)

    14%37 recipes

  • Everything else

    <1%1 recipe

Oil includes coconut oil (1%) and olive oil (4%).

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

White sugar includes powdered sugar, in 3% of recipes. "With honey or maple syrup" means any liquid sweetener (honey, maple syrup and other syrup), with or without dry sugar.

Baking soda, baking powder or both

Each recipe counted once, by what it relies on to rise.

  • Baking powder and baking soda

    median 13 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Easy Carrot Cake (thereciperebel.com)

    37%98 recipes

  • Baking powder only

    median 12 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Carrot cake pas cher (cuisineaz.com)

    36%96 recipes

  • Baking soda only

    median 10 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Gluten-Free Carrot Cake (tasteofhome.com)

    18%49 recipes

  • Self-rising flour only

    closest to typical: Speculoos Carrotcake (ohmyfoodness.nl)

    3%10 recipes

  • Everything else

    2%7 recipes

Self-rising flour already contains baking powder.

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

  • All-purpose flour only

    closest to typical: Easy Carrot Cake (thereciperebel.com)

    80%209 recipes

  • Self-rising flour only

    closest to typical: Speculoos Carrotcake (ohmyfoodness.nl)

    5%13 recipes

  • No flour named

    closest to typical: Gluten Free Carrot Cake! (janespatisserie.com)

    3%8 recipes

  • Whole wheat flour only

    closest to typical: Carrot Cake (thebakingexplorer.com)

    3%8 recipes

  • Everything else

    8%22 recipes

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 24% add none of these. Spice is one of the dish's own ratios on the overview rather than an add-in, so it is left out here.

  • Nuts64%

    walnuts 36% · pecans 15% · hazelnuts 5%

  • Fruit33%

    raisins 23% · pineapple 11% · apples 1%

  • Coconut, candy or chips9%

    shredded coconut 6% · almond paste 1%

  • Chocolate3%

    bar chocolate 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 260 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 250 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Carrot100%

    260 recipes · median 267 g

  2. Eggs100%

    260 recipes · median 169 g (about 3.5 large eggs)

  3. All-purpose flour83%

    217 recipes · median: all of the flour

  4. Vegetable oil79%

    207 recipes · median 184 g

  5. Cinnamon78%

    203 recipes · median 4.2 g

  6. Baking powder75%

    197 recipes · median 9 g

  7. Salt72%

    189 recipes · median 3 g

  8. Granulated sugar70%

    183 recipes · median 214 g

  9. Baking soda56%

    147 recipes · median 6 g

  10. Vanilla56%

    147 recipes · median 7 g

  11. Brown sugar51%

    135 recipes · median 195 g

  12. Walnuts36%

    96 recipes · median 95 g

  13. Nutmeg34%

    90 recipes · median 1 g

  14. Butter28%

    75 recipes · median 125 g

  15. Ginger25%

    65 recipes · median 1.7 g

  16. Raisins23%

    61 recipes · median 78 g

  17. Pecans15%

    39 recipes · median 95 g

  18. Cloves11%

    31 recipes · median 0.7 g

  19. Pineapple11%

    31 recipes · median 227 g

  20. Whole lemon or orange9%

    24 recipes

  21. Applesauce8%

    21 recipes · median 129 g

  22. Milk6%

    17 recipes · median 91 g

  23. Orange zest6%

    16 recipes · median 3.7 g

  24. Shredded coconut6%

    16 recipes · median 85 g

  25. Hazelnuts5%

    15 recipes · median 106 g

  26. Lemon zest5%

    13 recipes

  27. Self-rising flour5%

    13 recipes · median: all of the flour

Toppings and extras

73% of recipes (190 of 260) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Powdered sugar66% (173)
  • Cream cheese55% (145)
  • Butter45% (117)
  • Vanilla35% (91)
  • Salt13% (36)
  • Walnuts9% (25)
  • Pecans6% (18)
  • Cream6% (16)
  • Lemon juice5% (13)
  • Milk5% (13)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out (1 of them). Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 250 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.