Last month, I hosted a dinner at my house and wanted to bake a carrot cake, so I pulled out one of my favorite vintage cookbooks, Favorite Recipes of America: Desserts. This cookbook was published in 1968, and as far as I’m aware it’s not in print any more, but there are several used copies available on Amazon, which is cool! I love this cookbook and refer to its carrot cake recipe any time I make one. This cookbook compiled recipes from people all over the country, and this tasty recipe was submitted by Sharon A. Longaker, who won a blue ribbon at the Kentucky State Fair for her efforts. Because I wanted to make this recipe sugar free, I made a few adaptations to it, including the fact that I baked it as cupcakes rather than using a tube pan. This way, I was able to frost some cupcakes and leave the others plain.
- 1½ cups vegetable oil
- ¾ cup Truvia Baking Blend
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 egg whites
- 5 TBSP hot water
- 2½ cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1½ cups grated raw carrot
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- In a large bowl, cream oil and sugar together. Add egg yolks to the mixture one at a time, followed by the hot water. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, mixing thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the cake batter.
- Place cupcake liners into two trays and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spoon batter into liners - an ice cream scoop works well for this - and fill liners with batter. Depending on the size desired, you can fill each cupcake liner ¼ to ⅔ of the way full. My first batch was slightly larger than the second, so my total yield was 23 cupcakes.
- Bake cupcakes until a toothpick tests clean in the center. I forgot to write down the time I took mine out at, but it was maybe 45 minutes - the original recipe calls for 60-70 minutes when baked in a 9" tube pan. I also goofed and baked them at 250 degrees for the first 20 minutes because I read the dial wrong! Bottom line, this recipe is resilient, so adapt it to suit your needs!
Since this is a stout cake, I left half of the cupcakes plain so that they could be enjoyed almost like a muffin. Eaten plain, these cupcakes should be suitable for those with diabetes. This recipe was created 40 years before Truvia Baking Blend was invented, and it worked great – so it’s easy to adapt any classic recipe to work with Truvia. Try toasting one of of these cupcakes with butter – mmmm!
I used a traditional cream cheese frosting on the other half, for those who can consume sugar. The frosting recipe for this cake in the original cookbook calls for 3/4 of a margarine stick, 4oz cream cheese, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 box of powdered sugar. Since my margarine was in a tub rather than stick – not to mention my powdered sugar being in a large bag rather than the standard small box this recipe called for – I just improvised and “Eyeballed it”, especially since I didn’t need as much frosting with only half the batch getting any. I used all the same ingredients in proportions that “Looked about right”, and it worked out great!
Do you use vintage cookbooks? Have you ever adapted one of the recipes?
That looks so good! I would love to try it.
I adore a good carrot cake and these cupcakes look really good. I really like the way your frosting looks!
Oh these look so good! Carrot cake is one of my favorites! I have never made it from scratch though…will have to try!
Yum!! Those look delicious. Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts!
Carrot cake is one of my all time favorites. These cupcakes are something that I want to try right away. Perfect for snacking on!
I love carrot cake so this recipe is going in my special drawer. It looks so delicious and the topping adds a layer of yum to it.
OMGosh these look so good!!!
They look divine an that whipped cream on top makes it more inviting. I love carrot cake.
I love carrot cake. These cupcakes looks delicious!
Carrot cake is one of my personal favorites! I can’t wait to try it in cupcake form! =D Thanks for sharing.