Okay I made the "Awesome carrot cake" recipe from this site. I used two 8x2 inch pans.... but the cake barely rose an inch! I don't think I can even torte it - it was expensive enough to make.... I really don't want to try and make it all over again........ 
What could have gone wrong? I know my baking soda and powder were good...... I sifted my flour..... I didn't weigh the ingredients.... is that what happened?? I followed all good "measuring standards" like the scoop and sweep method..... what's wrong???
Should I just scrap it all and try to make a cake mix doctor cake?? I'm so upset I don't know what to do. I can't up the cost a whole ton to cover for my mistake..... I need help!!!!
What is the scoop and sweep method? Is that where you spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off? (That's how I learned it.) If you're scooping with the measuring and then sweeping across to level it, there will be way too much flour, because that compacts the flour in the cup. At least, that's what I learned.
I haven't tried this recipe, so I don't have any suggestions, beyond the typical questions, like whether you brought the eggs to room temperature and that kind of thing.
RedPanda
oh I'm sure it will taste fine - but it's sooooo short for decorating.
- the eggs probably weren't completely at room temperature - could that have made that big of a difference??? I guess I learned the scoop & sweep method incorrectly - thanks for the tip. I've always done it the previous way...... so did that screw it all up??? Should I just start over and make the cake mix doctor version of carrot cake? I'm so disappointed to have spent all that money and have the cake be so short......
Thanks Cindy I think that's what I'm going to do - I'll have to go get more baby food and figure out how on earth to halve that...... 
that is the tiniest little jar! And I may have to beg my mom to grate some more carrots.... other than that I think I'll have enough.... and if I'm a little short on the crystallized ginger I'll just have to be short - that stuff was like $8.00 a bottle..... craziness! I sure hope this tastes good! I was really hoping I would have to level the cake so I could taste it...... maybe I'll have a tiny bit of batter from the halved recipe that I can make a 4 in. cake out of - or a cupcake...... just to make sure it tastes good!!
Thanks!
I hope this works out for you. Wow that is an expensive cake!! I have a fantastic recipe that Squirrellycakes gave me. I use it all the time and it is great. No fancy ingredients, except for wheat bran, which is pretty cheap and lasts forever. If you want, I will send it to you for next time.
Cindy
Cindy6250 I would love that recipe..can you send it to me too please? [email protected]. TIA!
I haven't made that particular recipe, but you may want to check it to see if it's really dense and "chewy" since it didn't rise. If it is, it may not be suitable for serving as cake.
If it is chewy, and resembles a brownie like texture (and is done), make a different dessert out of it. I just recently did this out of extra red velvet cakes I made this weekend (too much extra cake!).
Mix the cake scraps with cream cheese icing until it can be pressed together, press into a pan.
Layer with cheesecake mousse (instant cheesecake pudding & whipping cream).
You can then pipe some more cream cheese icing on this or keep layering.
Yum!
By the way, if you are concerned about measurements, weigh your ingredients. I hardly ever use a measuring cup anymore. It has dramatically reduced my time making icing, especially!! I buy powdered sugar in bulk and never have to scrape Crisco out of a measuring cup!
I haven't made that particular recipe, but you may want to check it to see if it's really dense and "chewy" since it didn't rise. If it is, it may not be suitable for serving as cake.
If it is chewy, and resembles a brownie like texture (and is done), make a different dessert out of it. I just recently did this out of extra red velvet cakes I made this weekend (too much extra cake!).
Mix the cake scraps with cream cheese icing until it can be pressed together, press into a pan.
Layer with cheesecake mousse (instant cheesecake pudding & whipping cream).
You can then pipe some more cream cheese icing on this or keep layering.
Yum!
By the way, if you are concerned about measurements, weigh your ingredients. I hardly ever use a measuring cup anymore. It has dramatically reduced my time making icing, especially!! I buy powdered sugar in bulk and never have to scrape Crisco out of a measuring cup!
That does sound yummy - but this is for a customer, not myself...... so I need it to be cake. I'm not really sure how to "test" it though -I'm going to try to make a cupcake out of some of the batter.... but I can't cut into the cake and I can't level it and try and taste that even..... and the other issue is that now that I KNOW how to measure flour... I'm not sure the cake will turn out the same.... this layer may end up rising better or have a bit of a different texture if I measure correctly......
Does that sound dumb? Should I measure my flour the same way I did before? (sifted it, dipped it into the flour & then leveled off) Just for this cake? So that the texture is the same??? Oh gosh now I'm really concerned..... what do you all think I should do?? Measure the same as before or measure correctly now? (remember I'm going to halve the recipe and make one more layer so that I can have some more height to the cake overall).
I haven't made that particular recipe, but you may want to check it to see if it's really dense and "chewy" since it didn't rise. If it is, it may not be suitable for serving as cake.
If it is chewy, and resembles a brownie like texture (and is done), make a different dessert out of it. I just recently did this out of extra red velvet cakes I made this weekend (too much extra cake!).
Mix the cake scraps with cream cheese icing until it can be pressed together, press into a pan.
Layer with cheesecake mousse (instant cheesecake pudding & whipping cream).
You can then pipe some more cream cheese icing on this or keep layering.
Yum!
By the way, if you are concerned about measurements, weigh your ingredients. I hardly ever use a measuring cup anymore. It has dramatically reduced my time making icing, especially!! I buy powdered sugar in bulk and never have to scrape Crisco out of a measuring cup!
That does sound yummy - but this is for a customer, not myself...... so I need it to be cake. I'm not really sure how to "test" it though -I'm going to try to make a cupcake out of some of the batter.... but I can't cut into the cake and I can't level it and try and taste that even..... and the other issue is that now that I KNOW how to measure flour... I'm not sure the cake will turn out the same.... this layer may end up rising better or have a bit of a different texture if I measure correctly......
Does that sound dumb? Should I measure my flour the same way I did before? (sifted it, dipped it into the flour & then leveled off) Just for this cake? So that the texture is the same??? Oh gosh now I'm really concerned..... what do you all think I should do?? Measure the same as before or measure correctly now? (remember I'm going to halve the recipe and make one more layer so that I can have some more height to the cake overall).
oh yeah...what I meant by that, was that if the cake couldn't be saved as "cake", you can make this dessert for you and your family. 
Something that you can do to see the inside of the cake is to use your level and split it in half and look at the inside of it, you should be able to tell by looking at it what type of texture it has, then you can put it back together with a little icing "glue".
I can't remember if you said in your original post, but make sure your baking powder and soda are not expired.
Also, do you have another bag of flour to try? The reason I say this is, because I read an article in ACD one time talking about scratch vs "box" cake. Basically it said that when you buy flour, it can be affected by the humidity level, etc during packaging and can affect having consistent results when using the same scratch recipe where as box mixes have some forgiveness in this area with all the leavening agents in it,etc, basically meaning that if you add a little too much water or oil, it won't affect it as much. Perhaps buy a different brand of flour, and try that out.
It's your call and how you measure the flour, if you think that you are happy with the texture of the layers, I would do it the same. Good luck!
The main reason I looked at this site was to learn how much a carrot cake would rise.
It makes sense that it would NOT rise very much because it is heavy.
Therefore, if you already made a cake that did not have enough batter in the pan, don't fret.
Make it a 2 layer cake. Just make another one. Freeze leftovers for a later date.
Cake freezes well. Just freeze it without any covering just until it is frozen. Then put 2 or 3 layers of plastic wrap around it, sealing it tightly. Then put it into a brown paper bag and even a box if you plan to keep it very long, and put it back into the freezer. I've had wedding cakes frozen like that (to prevent freezer burn,) and a year later they taste as good as the day of the wedding. When you thaw it out, take all coverings off the cake while it is frozen so the frosting doesn't stick to the plastic wrap.
FYI, if you freeze cake before you frost it, then frost it while it's frozen, it makes the most moist cake you'll ever taste.
ABecause of the density of the ingredients, it's not going to rise like other cakes. With that being said, until we test any recipe for the very first time, we don't know what it will yield when baked. I had an order for a carrot cake this past weekend that needed to be carved into a cross. I started out with the recipe below (as my usual recipe is too soft for carving). I baked (1) 9x13 and realized after baking that I would need 3 layers to do the job.
I bake all of my cakes using the scoop and sweep method, as they are old recipes created by my Great-Grandmother and that's how she did it. I've never had an issue with different consistency.
This carrot cake I did received such great reviews that my husband begged me to make another for our family to eat.
The recipe just included a list of ingredients with no instructions, so I just gave it a go. I started by creaming the butter, sugar, eggs vanilla and salt and spices (I added an additional 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg). Added the flour and baking soda) and mixed until just incorporated. Then folded in the carrots, 1/2 cup of roasted pecans and 1/2 cup of golden raisins that I plumped in pineapple juice and baked at 325 until done.
Simply delicious, with a beautiful consistency that carved well once chilled. This will be my go-to recipe from now on.
http://www.cakecentral.com/t/285973/best-carrot-cake-recipe-that-will-be-carved
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