Golly
@tazzle; that does sound like a tough one. I think, if I found myself in your shoes, I would approach it this way:
First, I would want to figure out, exactly how the Carrot
vapes. I personally have never been able to get much useful understanding of a concentrate, by tasting the raw liquid straight (e.g. back of the hand). I need to physically mix it into a stand-alone (single flavor) e-liquid and vape it.
While doing this, I probably
wouldn't be looking at it, with the likelihood of it being a primary flavor (though it may end up surprising you), but more as a potential secondary, or even accent contributor. What
does it taste like? Is it more of a "fresh-from-the-garden" type of carrot? Or maybe more of the "frozen-foods-section" carrot? Or is it more like a cooked carrot; and then is it sweeter, and more caramelized like a roasted carrot; or perhaps it is more bland, like a boiled carrot? I think, until you understand what it is bringing to the party, you are going to be hard-pressed to know how best to use it.
I also would be looking for what else it might contribute, besides some sort of "carrot" taste, like maybe moistness. It might turn out to be something similar to INW Cactus, where it biggest benefit is adding a "juiciness" to a recipe, instead of a specific "flavor," when the percentage is kept low enough.
I did find three recipe that called for RF(SC) Carrot. One public one, on ELR (called Rodger is Dead -HDH), but
of course, it is used in conjunction with RF(SC) Carrot cake. The other two recipes were on All The Flavors, but both are "private," so I have no idea how the Carrot is being used. It appears to be used between 1 and 1.75%, but I imagine that really depends on what other flavors it is being used with.
Then..., once I knew what it was bringing to the table, I decide if it could be useful in a carrot cake recipe.
For the carrot cake recipe (in extremely general terms), I looked at a handful of carrot cake recipes (the desert/not the e-liquid), and kind of arrived at this for what may (and may not) contribute to a e-liquid recipe profile. The recipes I looked at all seemed to use:
Flour
Eggs
Oil
Baking Soda
Sugar
Salt
This part of the recipe creates
mostly(?)the base, or foundation of the cake, and will be less about "flavor," and more about mouthfeel in an e-liquid recipe. "Moist," "fluffy," and "delicate" (vs. "firm" or "dense"), are what my memory seem to recall most strongly, about eating carrot cake.
Carrots
Cinnamon
Walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
These
seem to be (
to me) the dominant "flavor" contributors to the recipes I looked at.
It has been quite a while since I have actually eaten any carrot cake, so my perception (and memory) are even less help than normal, but I really don't remember a lot of "carrotiness" in the carrot cakes I have eaten. Instead, if I had to say what the carrots added to the finished desert, I would probably have to say texture: moistness, perhaps a bit of natural sweetness, and some very subtle graininess, and crunch, (from the grated carrots) just hinted at in the background.
So, if this is similar to your own recollection; "Carrots" may actually belong in the first group of ingredients. You could also make an easy case, that Sugar belongs in the "taste" group, and not the "texture" group.
What
I do recall of the
taste of carrot cake is: first a dominant cream cheese icing, then followed pretty evenly by cinnamon, and walnuts. The frosting being super sweet, followed by the cake being a fair amount less sweet, and maybe even, a touch savory. Everything else my mind is coming up with, to describe carrot cake, is all textural (rich, moist, fluffy not heavy, etc.).
Whatever
you see, as
your desired profile, then you can start finding
those ingredients that will give you
those results.
For
me, I might start with something like:
1. A "cake" component. A multitude of yellow/white cakes, and cup cakes could work here. I am not sure about red velvet as that has a fair prominent chocolate note
to me.
2. The cream cheese icing component. LA Cream Cheese Icing is an absolute must
to me here. But I did notice that several of the ELR recipes appeared to be trying to use a Yogurt to get some tang; I just didn't see how they were filling out the rest icing.
3. The cinnamon component. This is another one where there is plethora of contenders;everything from FA Cinnamon Ceylon, or FLV Rich Cinnamon, to your Pumpkin Spice (though the nutmeg might be a bit too forward for carrot cake), or maybe even a cinnamon danish, or oatmeal cookie (though both of these may "dry" out the recipe too much).
4. The nut component. I think FA Walnut is the logical starting place here; but Mixed Nut, or even an hazelnut, almond, or pecan, might do okay in a pinch. Peanut is about the only one I would immediately rule out... but what do I know?
I, for one, am interested to see what you come up with. Keep us informed! I am also interested to see what RF(SC) Carrot actually tastes like; if you work up the nerve to try it as a stand-alone.
Wishing you all the best!
