The great carrot cake-off!

With Brian back in town, my string of birthday celebrations continued Friday night. (I know! I sure know how to stretch it out, right?! Take notes, ladies. Watch and observe.)

We took Westley to my parents' house and invited my in-laws over for a grand taste test event: a carrot cake taste test party! Brian found a few places (Copper Oven, Piccadilly) to be sold out of carrot cake, so he was a man on a mission to find us options. Oh, darn. We'll have to have a carrot cake-off, take two. I've also had recommendations for the carrot cake from Old Mill Tasty Shop and Just Catfish (of all places!). Any other place you'd recommend?

The party was an excellent way to wrap up my day off. After our foray into baby education and our dining-through-the-alphabet lunch date, we took Westley to an ear, nose and throat doctor, where we found out that our little one needs tubes in his ears. I hate to have to do this, but he has had too many ear infections. We're praying this helps. Then, while I was being spoiled with a one-hour massage (thanks to some neighborhood mommy friends who treated me to a gift certificate), Brian and Westley drove around town buying carrot cakes, one of my favorite desserts.

Ta-da!


We sampled a piece of each cake one at a time and critiqued its appearance, frosting, spiciness, moistness, "carrotness" (presence of a carrot flavor/treatment of the featured ingredient), texture and overall taste. It was an absolute blast! The results, in a nutshell:

Dillons: This cake won our highest points for appearance but our lowest points in every other category. For $12.99, it scored the poorest on our value test.

I vote it best for impressing guests who are on a diet ... or those who gave up carrot cake for Lent.


Monica's Bundt Cake: This cake scored highest in the spiciness category, with a heavy dash of delicious nutmeg. But this bundt may have suffered some freezer burn before we bought it, we think. It was disappointingly dry and didn't live up to the bakery's reputation for delicious treats.

We loved the finely chopped nuts and light texture but could see -- and not taste -- the carrot. The frosting was super-sweet but perhaps a little gritty. At about $15, it also wasn't considered the best value.

Target: My friend Ann recommended this treat, and it scored the second-highest in our taste test. We loved the cake's yummy cinnamon flavor and the fact that you could taste the carrot. It was very moist and smooth. A surprising and convenient option for $6! (We actually picked this up during an errand for milk, greeting cards and a prescription, for instance.)

Our main complaint, though, was that there was just too much frosting and not enough cake (evident in the photo at left). And we missed the hearty pineapple and raisins that other offerings included.

Village Inn: This cake, well, took the cake. We loved its nutty -- but not overly sweet -- frosting and the cute icing carrot decoration. Its ingredients included a hearty mix of carrots, pineapple, nuts and raisins.

We missed the spiciness of some of the other cakes, and it was a little heavy, dry and crumbly. I do love that you can buy it by the slice, something its competitors didn't offer. That might make this dessert the easiest -- and most guilt-free -- option to revisit during a future sweet tooth attack.