Kaylee's not-a-blog » Food » Crockpot » Carrot Cake, from scratch

Last week, I checked out a different food pantry, and at the very end, they offered me a bag of frozen diced carrots. By then, I was fairly distracted, did not realize how big it was (2 pounds), and quickly agreed to take it, thinking that it would help keep a pack of frozen brats (#woot!) cold, longer.
They bagged the two, with a block of cheese, and I put that bag in my cheap styrofoam cooler.

The next day, I finally realized that the quantity was far more than I could possibly consume before it would go bad, and quickly racked my brains to figure out what to make to help use up as much as practical.

My first thoughts were carrot soup, and carrot cake "from scratch".
I checked for recipes on YouTube, then the web, and found the usual mishmash of content, all aimed at fully equipped kitchens and large crockpots. :(
Carrot soup looked more problematic, plus I wasn't familiar with it.
Carrot cake also looked problematic (I had never made it from scratch), however I am familiar with it, and by then had a craving, so figured I would try it. :)

I ended up winging it, based on four recipes, dropping the impractical (unavailable) ingredients, substituting what I did have, and experimenting with quantities.
Over a 5 day period, I made a total of five (5) cakes in my one quart sized crockpot, and all were very good, with the exception of one where I accidentally spilled an excessive amount of baking powder (I naively ass-umed it wouldn't be a problem - it was so bitter, I ended up throwing most of it out).

Ingredients:

• 80g sugar   (I used only white, since I have an open bag, however all the recipes listed a mix of brown and white)
• 80g all-purpose flour
• 1/2~ tsp baking powder
• 1/2~ tsp pumpkin pie spice   (or cinnamon & nutmeg)
  
  
• 1/4~ tsp vanilla extract
• 60g vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 30g to 75g diced carrots
• (optional) pecans or walnuts

Steps:

1. combine all dry ingredients, mix well
2. add wet ingredients, except for carrots
3. mix wet ingredients together, trying to avoid dry ingredients   (please don't stress over this)
4. combine wet and dry ingredients
5. add carrots (and optional nuts), mix roughly
6. pour into parchment paper lined crockpot (or insert)
7. cook on Low for 2 to 5 hours

Preparation was remarkably easy.
Instead of using two bowels, I used one, and it was easy to mix the dry vs wet ingredients semi separately, before combining.

Note that I mostly use a small electronic scale to measure ingredients, which is more accurate and reduces cleanup. :)
I did not use a teaspoon to measure the small ingredients, instead I just eyeballed them.

All major ingredients were free (from two food pantries), which dramatically reduced my stress at tackling something I had been intimidated by.
From now on, carrot cake will be a regular treat for me. :)
I plan to try making it with dehydrated carrot dices, sometime soon.

Pictures:

Batter in crockpot (in parchment paper), ready to bake:

After baking, in parchment paper, after removing from crockpot:

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