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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Carrot Crazy Cake (No Butter, Eggs, Milk or Mess) ~ Inspired by the Depression Era Recipe (aka Wacky Cake) w/ GF Option


"Vegetables are a must on a diet.
I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."
~ Jim Davis

I hope you enjoy this first recipe I developed for a spring carrot cake for my pantry cookbook. It is inspired by the famous Great Depression "wacky" cake recipe and my desire to be able to cook strictly from basic food storage as a part of our preparedness series (remember I had challenged myself here)! This particular creation belongs to the "spring garden" pantry chapter as it includes ingredients exclusively from the pantry and garden. No refrigerated items required. It is so moist-- you will be amazed at how delicious an inexpensive recipe like this can be! Plus, there is less mess as this cake is made straight in the pan!

When would you make this recipe?

When you run out of eggs...
When you run out of butter...
When you run out of milk...
When you are serving a vegan, when you are serving someone with dairy allergies, when you need a no-fail and frugal dessert recipe, when all you have is what is in the pantry and garden, when you crave carrot cake...


Dry Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. flour  (all purpose or gluten-free flour blend)
  • 3/4 c. white sugar
  • 1/4 c. brown sugar
  • 3/4 tsp. cinnamon *
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg *
  • 1 pinch of cloves *
  • 1 tsp. baking soda (use 1 1/2 tsp. is using gluten-free flour blend)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
Wet Ingredients:
  • 5 tbsp. vegetable oil (we use sunflower)
  • 1 tsp. white vinegar (use apple cider vinegar for gluten-free version)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 c. water
  • 1 1/2 c. shredded carrots
***Note: If you don't have the individual spices, try replacing the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves with 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 by 8 inch square baking pan.

Measure out and stir all the dry ingredients together in your prepared baking pan.



Make three wells in the baking pan (making sure one is large enough to contain the oil).



Pour the oil into the largest well and the vinegar and vanilla separately into the other impressions. 



Pour water over all the contents, add the shredded carrots and carefully mix your ingredients until combined and smooth. Good thing we don't judge the taste of cakes by the looks of the batter for this will surely frighten you off! 



Bake for 35 - 40 minutes (it is finished when a toothpick inserted inside the center comes out clean).

Cool on wire rack. Once it is completely cooled, you may frost it. 



Cream cheese frosting is the classic choice for carrot cake. If we don't have cream cheese, we will use a plain vanilla buttercream frosting (but omit 1 cup of powdered sugar) for a nice and buttery topping that compliments the cake well. If you are trying to use what is in the pantry, prepare a plain icing* with powdered sugar, vanilla and water (or canned coconut milk, etc). This will seem more luxurious if you cut each piece of cake and drizzle the icing on separately, allowing it to overflow onto the sides.

* Mix 1 c. powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 - 2 tbsp. milk (or water), 1 tablespoon at a time, until drizzle-able (mixture will thicken slightly as it sets).


Future note: If you were to have me over for carrot cake, I prefer mine chilled and with a cup of coffee :)

Recipe can be doubled -- simply use a 9 by 13 inch pan.

You will find our printable recipe HERE.
All the fine print. This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making MondaysModest Mom Monday'sMonday's MusingsGood Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Tuesdays with a TwistRaising HomemakersWise Woman Link UpHomestead Blog Hop Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and ConversationHomemaking ThursdaysHome Sweet HomeOur Simple HomesteadAwesome Life Friday Link Up and Create, Bake, Grow & Gather. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post may contain affiliate links (which are merchant links that help to support this site at no additional cost to you if you purchase an item through them). Vegan, Dairy-Free Carrot Cake Recipe.

38 comments:

  1. Just pinned! What a frugal and yet delicious idea. Have a wonderful week!

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  2. This looks wonderful I want to definitely try this. Your writing a cook book? Happy Wednesday with love Janice

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    1. Thanks Janice! I am not writing a professional cookbook :) just putting together one for our family pleasure with recipes straight from the pantry for my Proverbs 31 Preparedness Notebook. It is just a hobby :)

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  3. I love wacky cake and carrot cake, now you've given me the way to enjoy both! This looks amazing, can't wait to try it. Thanks.

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  4. Thank you for posting this! I have a child with dairy, egg, and nut allergies. We make wacky cake on a regular basis but I haven't yet found a recipe for a different flavored cake that we like. Can't wait to try this one. Is this a new recipe/series you're creating, or do you have other "pantry recipes" on your blog? I'd love to find more to use.
    Amy

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    1. Hi Amy, This was spurred by my pantry/preparedness series. I thought it wise to know how to make items strictly from my pantry as a part of preparedness. I will be sharing more (I have 4 more of these waiting to be photographed and posted). There is one other one I shared which is the jam bar mix in a jar... That is strictly another pantry recipe. You will find the new series under the "Recipe Cards: Pantry/Preparedness" tabs :) I hope your family enjoys this!

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  5. LOVE this! My in-laws are vegan so I am going to save this recipe to make next time they come over.

    Christina
    www.ourwoodhome.com

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    1. This would be perfect for them! Thanks for sharing :)

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  6. Thanks so much for this recipe and including the gluten free way too!

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  7. This looks wonderful, JES! Thanks so much for sharing. :)

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  8. Oh! This recipe sounds so yummy! Can't wait to try it :) I'm always looking for frugal dessert recipes and I will add this one to my repertoire! Thanks~ T

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    1. It is nice to know you most likely always have the ingredients too! :) Thanks for stopping by T.!

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  9. The cake looks wonderful, will have to give it a try, my youngest has multiple allergies so baking is always an interesting event, with various degrees of success, she loves to cook with me, so thank you

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    1. I hope this recipe will work with your allergy restrictions! Take care Helen :)

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    2. Just popping back to say, we made the cake this morning, it is a delicious spongy cake, thank you so much :)

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    3. Wonderful! Did you need to make any other adjustments for any allergies? Just curious :)

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    4. No adjustments, she is allergic to dairy, soya, eggs, nuts, legumes and a few other things, so your recipe was perfect, so very happy

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    5. Great! Thanks for the feedback! :)

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  10. Perfect timing! I'm reading up on Depression Era recipes and cooking so I was excited to see this. : ) Thank you for sharing it!!!
    Mary S.

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    1. You are welcome Mary! The wacky cakes are probably their best ones as they aren't compromised in taste like many of the other Depression Era recipe may be...

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  11. Oh man! That cake looks too good to be true! LOL! Thanks, JES! xo

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    1. You are a dear Faye! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  12. That is amazing, JES. As I don't use sugar I should experiment with using Dextrose to see if that works as well. It looks delicious and carrot cake is one of my favourite cakes. Thanks heaps.

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    1. Hi Chel, I don't have any experience with dextrose but hope the substitutions go well! Thanks for visiting! :)

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  13. I love wacky cake, so this one will be tried soon. My FIL loves carrot cake, but the original carrot cake recipe is so time consuming. Plus I like one that doesn't use all my butter and eggs!
    Thank you so much for Sharing Jes!

    Enjoy the rest of your week!

    Hugs & Blessings,
    Amy

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    1. Some great points you bring up Amy :) Thank you for sharing here today and have a lovely week too! :)

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  14. gosh this looks so good and I can almost taste it. gonna give this a try for sure. thanks for the recipe.
    betsy

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  15. This cake sounds wonderful. I have seen other "Wacky cake" recipes but had never thought about carrot cake. I eat eggs from my backyard chickens but otherwise don't consume animal products so this is perfect! Thanks for sharing, found your post at The Simple Homestead Blog Hop.

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  16. I love the "Wacky Cakes" but have not seen a carrot cake recipe! I will definitely give this a try as I do love my carrot cake and it is always nice to have a recipe for those times when you have nothing much in the pantry!

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    1. Exactly! Thanks for stopping by Lauren! :)

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  17. That sounds so good! I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to Depression recipes! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!

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  18. What a wonderful recipe! I have a cranky gallbladder right now so I can't have eggs, milk, butter, etc. This cake would be perfect minus the cream cheese icing {which I love, BTW} But cake alone would be a treat right now. Thanks for sharing, JES.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  19. This looks like a very interesting recipe and I like using items from my pantry. I love carrot cake made with Whole Wheat Flour. I grind my own and have quite a lot of wheat in storage. I'm wondering if I could substitute whole wheat for the all purpose flour?

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    1. Hi Elaine, I haven't tried that yet but it is worth a try -- especially as your wheat is freshly ground. To be safe, I would experiment with a half and half blend of white and wheat. If that works, try a bit more wheat until you reach your goal. If you do, please do let me know how it turns out! :)

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  20. The cake just came out of the oven. It smells WONDERFUL and looks beautiful. Hubby's lactose intolerant and his birthday is tomorrow. Carrot cake is his favorite. Cannot tell you how excited I was to find a "Crazy Cake" recipe for carrot cake. I doubled the recipe and used a 9" x 13" pan. Baked for 40 minutes. Will not use cream cheese frosting but will use buttercream frosting made with almond milk.

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