Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is my husband's favorite cake.  I like it too, but I couldn't pick a favorite cake if I tried....all cakes are my "favorite".  But he likes it so much that we ended up having carrot cake at our wedding!  I don't make it nearly enough anymore, so as we were preparing to take a little road trip to my Aunt Judy's house in Maine last weekend I decided to make it and bring it along.  We needed to put a little dent in our carrot crop from the garden after-all!  Besides, I don't like showing up empty handed.

I don't know where I got this recipe from, but it's the only one I've ever used.  I've tweaked it some over the years, and so this is my final version. I just don't see any reason to try another recipe - this makes a dense, yet moist and flavorful cake.  So why mess with perfection....right?  Just as a side note - this recipe makes a 10" double layer cake, but often times I will use 2, 9" cake pans and pour the remaining batter into a cupcake pan (it'll make 6 cupcakes in addition to the cake).  After the cupcakes are frosted I will wrap them and put in the freezer to enjoy at a later date.

Best Ever Carrot Cake

6 cups grated carrots
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a medium bowl add the grated carrots and brown sugar, stir to combine and set aside for 1 hours.  After an hour you can stir in the raisins.  Preheat the oven to 350 and spray 2, 10" cake pans with cooking spray.  

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until light in color.  Add the sugar, oil and vanilla and beat to combine.  Stir in the pineapple and set aside.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.  Lastly, stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts.  Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 45-50 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 30 minutes then remove and cool completely on wire racks, then frost with cream cheese frosting (see below).


Cream Cheese Frosting - In a large bowl beat 1 1/2 blocks of softened cream cheese, 2 sticks of softened unsalted butter and 2 tsp vanilla together until creamy.  Add 2 cups of confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.  YUM!!!!