Spiced Carrot Cake

164 Ratings
  • 5 48
  • 4 41
  • 3 49
  • 2 16
  • 1 10

Cinnamon is commonly used to spice carrot cake but we recommend using cardamom here.

Everyday Food, January/February 2006

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Recipe Summary

prep:
25 mins
total:
2 hrs 30 mins
Servings:
8
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Ingredients

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8-inch round cake pan with oil. Place a round of waxed or parchment paper in the bottom; brush with oil, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Set aside.

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  • In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cardamom, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, yogurt, and oil until smooth. Gently mix egg mixture into dry ingredients until moistened; mix in carrots. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

  • Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (if browning too quickly, tent cake with aluminum foil). Cool in pan, 15 minutes. Turn out of pan, remove paper, and cool completely on a rack, right side up. Apply glaze, or dust with confectioners' sugar.

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Reviews (25)

164 Ratings
  • 5 48
  • 4 41
  • 3 49
  • 2 16
  • 1 10
Martha Stewart Member
01/12/2018
perfect !!!!!
Martha Stewart Member
01/04/2016
I liked the cake, but will reduce the amount of sugar as I found it too sweet. Otherwise I am also planning on using some raisins and walnuts.
Martha Stewart Member
02/23/2015
It's an amazing recipe. It's simple and delicious. Need to try!
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Martha Stewart Member
11/04/2014
Very good, moist cake. It's a keeper. Will be also good for layered carrot cake with a frosting. I would only add a little bit less sugar.
Martha Stewart Member
10/30/2014
An excellent cake to make if you're in a hurry….. v quick, easy and a brilliant result! Everyone loved it. However, mixture seemed such a little amount I used a 7" cake tin. This IS a small cake………cuts into 6 generous slices or 8 small slices. Am thinking next time I could use an 8" and double up recipe and sandwich together if I needed something bigger but would definitely make this again.
Martha Stewart Member
04/23/2014
This recipe was really quick/easy! I took it to dinner at a friend's house. Everyone loved it and requested the recipe (even emailing after the event to make sure I sent it). 2 small changes: I added about 2 handfuls of raisins with the carrots, and baked it in a 9-in pan (baked about 35 minutes). I felt like I over-beat the batter (I could see "tunnels" in the cake) so I wished I would have added the raisins to the dry ingredients and the carrots to the wet to reduce the final mixing time.
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Martha Stewart Member
04/17/2014
Made this last week and it was the best carrot cake I've ever had! One question - has anybody had success turning this into cupcakes? I'm thinking it should be ok to just reduce baking time to 20 minutes or so...but I'm making them for Easter so would be nice to know if someone else has tried it!
Martha Stewart Member
01/20/2014
I baked this cake a couple of days ago and it turned out perfect! It is very moist but light and flavorful. I didn't have low fat yogurt so I used full fat instead (I personally don't think it makes a difference). Two days later and the cake is still moist and rich! Will definitely be making this again.
Martha Stewart Member
04/01/2013
My family and I really enjoyed this cake. After reading the other comments a was worried about it being dry so I was generous with the oil and yogurt (plain goat's milk). I only had a 9" pan so it baked for just 30 min. and was nice and moist. The glaze took about 3tsp water to be thin enough to drizzle.
Martha Stewart Member
03/30/2013
Excellent cake. Moist and tender with great flavor. I used Kefir in place of yogurt. I mixed this by hand rather than use my mixer and was careful not to overmix. I baked it for 30 minutes and used the toothpick method of testing for doneness. It came out clean so I took it out of the oven. I will use this recipe again. Maybe next time I'll add crushed pineapple to the pan bottom and then add the batter.
Martha Stewart Member
03/21/2013
The cake was very nice, if small, and I certainly didn't miss any cream cheese frosting, which I always omit anyway. I don't understand the one reviewer's comment about masking the taste of carrots with spices. Hasn't this reviewer ever heard of spices enhanding flavor of various foods? Not a real cook for sure.
Martha Stewart Member
01/25/2013
This cake was delicious and easy to put together. I wanted to make a small, lowfat carrot cake and liked this recipe for its simplicity. I used cardamom, and it was great with the carrots. (Next time I'll reduce the amount a tad.) Used 2% greek yogurt in the recipe, then mixed yogurt and lowfat cream cheese with some vanilla and powdered sugar for a nice fresh topping. Substituted 1 cup plus 2 T cake flour (standard amount) instead of all-purpose. Not at all sticky, the texture was perfect.
Martha Stewart Member
01/17/2013
I cannot imagine why anyone would try such a recipe. What kind of person would believe that a perfectly good carrot cake could be improved by concealing the carrot flavor under blanket of unnecessary spices?
Martha Stewart Member
10/15/2012
I was glad that I read the reviews before I made this cake. Since others described the cake as dry, I was a little more liberal adding low-fat plain yogurt & vegetable oil. I used a 9" springform pan and reduced the cooking time to about 30 mins. I also substituted cinnamon for cardamon. The cake was super moist and springy. The cake is STICKY. I omitted the parchment circle, so I had to serve it on the bottom of the springform pan (which is fine with me). It was delicious - very autumnal!
Martha Stewart Member
07/23/2012
This cake is absolutely DELISH. I used cinnamon instead of cardamom (because I didn't have any) and like other reviews, I had to reduce the baking time. I also made it in a bundt pan for nice presentation, as we were having guests over. The glaze literally could not be ANY easier and everyone at the dinner party loved it. It was almost all finished within 10 minutes and people said it tasted like it was professional. At the end of the night, one of the ladies asked me to e-mail her the recipe!
Martha Stewart Member
06/19/2012
I made this cake for my Book Club last night - what a disappointment !! No carrot taste at all - and rather dry, too. I served it with ice cream, but will not make this one again ;(
Martha Stewart Member
01/16/2012
This is a great, light cake. I added a cream cheese icing instead of the quick glaze, but the cake was delicious by itself as well. I also used an 8" pie pan, and it was perfect (but only took 30 minutes).
Martha Stewart Member
03/22/2009
I used a 9" round cake pan so had to reduce my cooking time. The top does brown up fairly quickly so keep your eye on this while it's baking.
Martha Stewart Member
10/27/2008
what a very nice cake to eat at any time
Martha Stewart Member
10/27/2008
what a very nice cake to eat at any time
Martha Stewart Member
10/08/2008
this will make a great dessert for any occasion.
Martha Stewart Member
09/27/2008
nice for Thanksgiving dessert
Martha Stewart Member
09/27/2008
nice for Thanksgiving dessert
Martha Stewart Member
02/04/2008
Very easy to make. Good flavor, the cardamom gives it some zip! Nice with afternoon tea
Martha Stewart Member
12/12/2007
my comment
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