Hey everyone, I have come across a carrot cake recipe that has been tweaked and is not working. The original recipe called for just baking soda and now baking power has been added. The cake falls in the middle when cooling and some people say it has an alkaline taste. I believe the baking soda is way to much, but I do not know if increasing the baking power and decreasing the soda would work. Also, I would like to convert the measurements to weights instead of cups, Tablespoons, etc.. Can anyone help?
-See the recipe below-Chefg
18cups Flour
18cups Sugar
2 T salt
6T soda
11/2 T baking powder
6T Cinnamon
This one is good, but my bakeshop is metric. You might also try the one from the Gisslen, Professional Baking Book,=20 it is good too. Cups are way too inaccurate commercially, even if you convert them to=20 weight. The upscaling is another problem.
Too much leavening can cause a cake to fall. The rule of thumb is for 1/4 tsp of baking soda for each cup of flour or 1 tsp. or baking powder per cup of flour. Also you need enough acid for the baking soda to react with or you just end up with an alkaline batter from unreacted soda. So, the leavening is probably one issue. The cake also might not be thoroughly baked and then falls when removed from the oven. The other thing that I see is that your have equal amount (in volume) of flour and sugar. Sugar is more dense than flour so one cup of sugar weighs more than one cup of flour. Therefore, the ratio of sugar to flour is more than 1:1. This is a high ratio cake but you aren't using high ratio shortening. It also looks like there is too much oil. I also don't understand how you "mash" raw carrots and I have never seen a carrot cake made with cooked carrots. Rather than trying to fix the recipe, I would find a new recipe. Once you find one that works, you can convert it to weight if necessary. Here is a good source to use for converting your recipes:
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.Here is my recipe for carrot cake that always gets rave reviews. It is mymost requested cake: Fantastic Pumpkin Carrot Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 cup plus 2 Tbs. cake flour)
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1.5 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1.5 cups granulated sugar
1.25 cups Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup (8-oz. can) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup grated carrots (raw)
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup raisins
1.25 cups chopped walnuts or pecans, divided
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and
salt in small bowl.
Combine milk, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.
(You can substitute buttermilk for the lemon juice and milk)
Beat granulated sugar, pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar
and vegetable oil until combined. Beat in pine-
apple, carrots, milk mixture until combined.
Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in
Coconut, raisins, and 1 cup nuts. Pour into 2 greased
9-inch round cake pans.
Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 to 35
minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean.
Cake is done when it shrinks from the sides of the pan.
Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes.
Remove to racks to cool completely.
(Cake can take a longer time to bake depending on how well the pineapple is drained and how much moisture there is in the carrots)
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