Carrot Cake

This year was great for carrots, and as I was on a roll with the baking, Mom requested a carrot cake. No problem I though and pulled up a couple of recipes, she then informed me that she wasn’t a fan of the recipes with pineapple, she wanted one with just carrots. Well that made things more interesting. Allrecipes came to the rescue and I ended up with a great cake.

Carrot Cake Adapted from Allrecipes
INGREDIENTS
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots


1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (room temperature)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt


DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Note for all you nut lovers out there, you can add 1 cup of pecans to the batter when you add the carrots, and you can add some to the frosting if you like. I did not do this, as my family isn’t a big fan of nuts in their baking.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Do not frost until the cake is completely cool.

REVIEWS:
I halved this recipe as we already had a chocolate beet cake and multigrain cinnamon buns around the house, It made a lovely small cake that is a great option for when you just need a bit of cake.

My mother really enjoyed this cake and happily took it along to share with friends at a party that night. Owen managed to sneak a piece and while carrot cake isn’t his favorite he had no problem eating it and trying for more.