I was wanting to make a carrot cake for my family, and as much as I want to do scratch, I still have way to much to do before Sunday. So I was wondering, Duncan Heinz makes a cinnamon swirl cake that is sooooo good. I was thinking about adding grated carrots to it (cuz I'm not a nuts in cake person) and making it into a carrot cake. Would this work? Is there anything else I should add besides carrots? Looks like most of the recipes the main spice is cinnamon. I wouldn't want to dry the cake out, would this? Thanks in advance!!! Have a wonderful holiday weekend to all!
I actually turned a yellow cake mix into a carrott cake. I added the carrotts, cinnamon, nutmeg and added applesauce for additional moisture. It tasted really good. I am sure that the mix you have will work fine.
I've used DH Spice Cake mix to make carrot cake and replace 1/2 of the liquid with crushed pineapple. YUM-MY!
GOOD LUCK!
Beth in KY
Edited to add: UH and by the way....grated carrots too! LOL
Wish MY assignment was cake this year. I got appetizers....BOR-RING!!
I think "scratch" carrot cake is just as easy as making it from a mix. Carrot Cakes is actually more of a giant muffing than a true cake. Anyway, here are 2 easy "scratch" recipes:
Alton Brown's Carrot Cake from Good Eats:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_29955,00.html?rsrc=search
Paula Deen's Carrot Cake from Paula's Party:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36302,00.html?rsrc=search
I will be making a scratch version and my recipe includes crushed pineapple.
If you do add pineapple, I would use the pineapple in its own juice because the cake mix is sweet enough without using pineapple in heavy syrup.
Happy Easter,
darkchocolate
Well for anyone interested, I did a trial run on muffins last night for my "master apprentice" 
to bring to work with her today.
1. They were easy! I'm swamped, the kids are home, 
and I just do not have time for a scratch mix, even though I know it's not a hard mix, still box is easier.
2. Thanks for the help. I ended up adding applesauce, grated carrots, and nutmeg to the batter. Not sure how much, I just dumped! Well, 4 grated carrots and 'bout 1/2 of a whole nutmeg. (Hmmm, what is a whole nutmeg called, is it a toe like garlic...perhaps a clove???) Anyway back on track...I just dumped in I'm guessing about a cup of applesauce. And I mixed the cinnamon sugar packet into the mix instead of swirling it at the end.
3. They were TASTY!!! 
A bit lighter than a scratch cake, but tasty none the less.
Hope this can help out someone else feeling a bit like me 
Happy Easter to all and thanks again for the help!!! I'm back off to the kitchen.... 
LOL... I had this dilema just a week ago. I took the DH spice cake mix, added in a few cups of grated carrots, 2 things of Gerber Carrot Baby food and a LOAD of walnuts. I had to add a little extra flour to thicken it up due to the extra liquid from the baby food...but they rocked!
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