Carrot Cake

I first made this for a rotation dinner group back on 26 March 2020. It was the first time I made carrot cake and it was one of the best carrot cakes I've had.

I can't believe I never made it again until today, 31 December 2022. I will definitely keep this at the top of my list to make from now on. This time I took photos as I prepared it. 

Serves 12

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots (I used a potato peeler and then chopped the carrots. This is about 5 medium carrots)
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 8-oz.can crushed pineapple, drained

For the frosting:

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & lightly flour a 9"x13" pan.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Stir in carrots, coconut, walnuts and pineapple.

Pour into the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Add the frosting to the top after the cake has cooled.

To make the frosting:

Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth; add the sugar and beat until creamy.


My changes from the original recipe: 

I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries to the mixture. I reduced the amount of cinnamon to 1 teaspoon, as my husband is not a fan of cinnamon.

For the frosting, I added about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, lemon zest, and 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla. Once I put the frosting on the cake, I added more lemon zest on top.

 Shredded and chopped 

Mixing the ingredients together

 

 Added dried cranberries

 Poured into the pan

 Out of the oven after 44 minutes

Combining the frosting ingredients:

Frosting the cake:

Freezing Leftovers: 

Yes, you can freeze carrot cake. When I have leftovers (still in the pan), I'll cut them into individual servings and place the pan into the freezer long enough for the frosting to firm up. Then I wrap each serving in saran wrap and then tin foil; place in  zip lock bags. 

To defrost, remove the foil and saran wrap when you take them out of the freezer. Then allow to defrost several hours on the counter or overnight. This way the frosting doesn't stick to the saran wrap.