Carrot cake – to die for!

Dear Appu…

In honour of R’s birthday, I searched online for a nice new cake recipe. Something I had not yet tried before. My search criteria on google was ‘awesome birthday cake recipes’, and the second link led me here. I have tried recipes from AllRecipes before and this sounded like a very good one.

Now R loves carrots. And I love carrot cake. And I guess, on its own it would have been quite amazing. But being a birthday occasion, I wanted icing, so I could write something on it. So instead of following the made from scratch cream cheese frosting recipe from this one, I tried out this recipe instead. Oooooo! Totally out of this world. And instead of plain cream cheese, I got one pack of strawberry flavour and the other was plain and mixed together, there was this pale pink look and a faint strawberry flavour which was amazing. Here’s the process in detail.

Ingredients for the cake

3 cups grated carrots
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine grated carrots, flour, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. Stir in eggs, oil, 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, pineapple and 3/4 cup chopped pecans. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Directions for Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I used one part Strawberry, and one part plain flavour)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese, butter and the pecans until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Spread evenly on the cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator after use. I also put the frosted cake in the fridge, and took it out just before it was time to cut it.

This recipe, of course, can also be used without any frosting. If you have noticed, the cake does not use any butter, which is such a pleasant change. And what’s a little unusual is that it uses pineapples alongwith the juice. Enjoy!