I like a good carrot cake.  Something moist and a little chewy.  It can have coconut or pineapple in it as long as those items add texture and moisture but don’t dominate the flavor.  Raisins are fine – nuts are not.  And, of course, that is the problem with most carrot cakes.  For some reason people feel compelled to add walnuts (in the north) or pecans (in the south).  I don’t like any kind of nuts in my baked goods, so carrot cake with nuts just won’t do.  Oh, and it needs cream cheese frosting.  The slight sour taste of the cream cheese heightens the delicious sweetness of the cake.

For my birthday I got three carrot cakes!  When I decided on Giammarcos for my birthday meal, I noticed there was carrot cake on the dessert menu.  Not that it had anything to do with my decision to pick Giammarcos (ahem).  So I ordered a piece with our takeout.  Then, my wonderful daughter-in-law had a carrot cake especially made at a bakery.  In addition, she brought a mini-cake from Mrs. Turbos.  So I had an abundance of carrot cake for my birthday.

During the birthday celebration with John and Jackie the Sunday before my birthday, we had the specially made cake.  This cake was made by Metal and Whisk, two home bakers that will make things to order.  They decorated it with a park service theme.  I won’t keep you in suspense – it was the best carrot cake I have ever had.  Everything a carrot cake should be.  Moist, slightly chewy, delicious and abundant frosting and NO NUTS!  Because it was a full-sized cake, we each had a big piece and then I sent two pieces home with John and Jackie.  Tom and I had four pieces left, and we split them over the next few days, enjoying the deliciousness over and over.  If you have an special order baking desires, I definitely recommend these ladies.

The piece of carrot cake from Giammarcos was a disappointment.  Full of nuts.  It was moist but the frosting was just vanilla.  I managed to choke it down – picking out all of the nuts – but decided about 2/3 of the way through it wasn’t worth the calories.  Not when I still had some of the Metal and Whisk cake left.

The final carrot cake was a mini-cake from Mrs. Turbos.  It was the last one I ate, so it was probably a little stale.  Consequently it was dry.  Dryness is also a problem with cupcakes – it is just easier to keep the big cakes moist.  I’m not sure if it would have been dry if I ate it the day it was baked, but I had so much cake and didn’t want to eat too much per day.  The frosting was very good and there was plenty of it and the mini-cake was just the right size for one person.  No nuts, so it is definitely one I would try again.  Especially since I need my carrot cake in controlled portions.

It was fun to have so much cake for my birthday.  Trying all the carrot cakes and comparing them to each other was a good excuse to indulge my love of cake.