This was a very good cake. I did succumb to putting vanilla and cinnamon in it. I made the right choice. It is pretty simple to make, so I will make it every time I have extra carrots around. The cake was soft and awesome, but the icing didn't turn out for me. I have to say, though, that this is the fist time I've made icing, so it might be me. Actually I found it didn't need icing after it cooled anyway because it had a nice semi-crisp top! My husband uses his coffee spoon to eat it with and just loves the taste combo.

First of all...I am not from Brazil! I have never had this type of carrot cake and I made it as a lark. Secondly, I admit that I toyed with the recipe a bit. I didn't want a huge amount of cake around the house - so I cut the measurements by half and used an 8x8 pan instead of the 9x13 pan. I also added a couple of shakes of pumpkin pie spice and a dash of vanilla and a sprinkling of corriander. The only hot chocolate mix I had in the house was a blend called "Mayan" which means there was a bit of cinnamon and other spice to it. It turned out GREAT! I loved the gooeyness of the soaked in icing. I will use this recipe again as a base and I think the next time I will throw in some raisins and nuts and make a cream cheese glaze. Even though I think it is more than likely fantastic made just as ordered in the recipe - my experimentation leads me to think you could do all sorts of things to this recipe to change it up - very versatile. The texture is moist and rich and it is just DELICIOUS!

I am also Brazillian and I make this cake all the time. Yes the icing is supossed to be absorved by the cake. It makes it really moisty but ugly..lol.If you dont want to do that for the icing you can get a bag of unsweeten chocolate chips. Melt it in a pan with butter. careful not to burn and spead it on top. The unsweeten chips will break up the sweetness of the cake a bit so its not so overwhelming and it will stay on top and look pretty.

Good cake but I was disappointed that just like the other reviwer, the icing was absorbed, it looked weird but it tasted good. I'm also from Brazil and it has been probably over 10 years since I haven't had this cake.

Okay, I will try to update this when/if I ever try it again ... but my first foray into making this did not go well. Actually, it tasted great (hence the 4 stars), but it looked like ... well, not good. When I put the icing on, it just was absorbed by the cake. If it was supposed to that, then great! But it looked pretty miserable. I made it for my daughter's school - I was supposed to bring something South American. Most was gone before I left, but I figure it didn't look appetizing. It was really moist and easy to make, though. Like I said, I will update when/if I try it again.

My room-mate, many years ago, was from Brazil and she made this cake. I loved it and sense then I've been trying to find the recipe. Thank you so much for posting this, it's just like I remembered.

I just loved! I'm from Brazil but I live in the US per 4 years now... and I'll tell you, was 4 years without a delicius carrot cake till today! Taste just like home! Thank you!!!!