Carrot Cake

Once again I am sharing one of my very yummy, high compliment, quality recipes.  You know... like my banana bread recipe.... the ones where I really want to keep for myself and get all the glory.  But, being the oh-so-kind soul that I am, I'll share.

K's birthday is coming up this next week.  They are going to be on vacation, so I made her a cake a week early.  Carrot cake is her favorite, so that's what I made.  I made it for her last year too.  It's so yummy!

So here's what you'll need.  It's quite a lot.  "$200 worth of ingredients" if you ask Michael.

 

3 eggs

2 cups flour

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup veg. oil

2 c shredded carrots

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flaked coconut

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, in juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup raisins

frosting!

Ok, so it is a lot of stuff.  I agree.  But a lot of it you have on hand anyway.  Plus, I personally keep out the raisins.  I like raisins.  Just not in my carrot cake.

First, you have to preheat the oven to 350*.  I think this was suppose to be made in a 9 by 13 pan, but I decided I wanted to make it in 2 nine inch circle pans and make a layer.  I made this for the first time for Easter three years ago.  I've made it many times since.  It's a keeper in my book.  I got it off a cooking website, but have no idea which one.  Sorry!

First, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Set bowl aside.

So just to clear it up-- I do no "sifting".  I dump it all in a bowl and mix it around.  Sift away if you must.

Combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Add flour and mix

it will start to look like a yummy spice cake

combine carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple (and raisins if you choose to use them)

You'll notice from the first picture that I bought a regular bag of carrots.  I've bought the already shredded ones before, and they do work out ok.  Only this time my store only had matchstick ones that were pretty thick.  Instead I (ok, Michael) used my Pampered Chef cheese shredder thing and shredded them myself.

Using a large wooden spoon or spatula, add carrot mix to batter and fold in well.

Pour into greased pan(s)

check out that yummy goodness!

Cook 1 hour for big cake or 45 minutes for two 9 inch cakes

Check with a toothpick

Cool 20 minutes

FROST!

I like to put a layer of frosting in between the layers of cake.  It does make it a little trickier to frost the rest though, because it slides a little.

It would probably be better with homemade cream cheese frosting, but at this point I just use store bought.  Maybe someday...