Carrot Cake Prep

• Grated or shredded carrots are the best choice for baking, as their uniform small size allows them to cook most evenly and in a short amount of time. Grate carrots by hand using a box grater or use a food processor's shredding attachment to quickly shred the carrots. Alternatively, you can purchase a bag of shredded carrots from your grocery store to pass on the most labor intensive step of making a carrot cake.

Going Even Smaller

• Some recipes call for the addition of lots of extras like apples, raisins, nuts, coconut and pineapple to give carrot cake even more flavor and character. In this case, these ingredients, along with the grated carrots can be pulsed together in a food processor until they are a chunky mince before adding to the cake batter. This additional step works to create a super moist cake that has bits of carrot and other fruits incorporated throughout.

Creating the Cake

• After completing the prep work of the carrots and other fruit or nut fillings, mix the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla to create the base for the cake. Mix in the carrots and then slowly incorporate the already mixed flour, leaveners and spices into the mixture. Transfer the cake batter to a greased pan and cook the cake in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for up to an hour, or until a wooded skewer or toothpick inserted into its middle comes out clean.

Topping Carrot Cake

• Carrot cake is commonly paired with a cream cheese frosting. Ranging from mildly sweet to extremely sweet, this frosting works well with the carrot cake so as not to overwhelm its delicate flavoring. Apply cream cheese frosting over the carrot cake after it has cooled completely. Because cream cheese frosting is perishable, carrot cake should be refrigerated until you are ready to serve it. If desired, remove the cake from the refrigerator up to 30 minutes before serving to bring it to room temperature.