Carrot Cake Recipe
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups olive oil or grapeseed oil
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped (more whole or chopped for topping)
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
- 2 cups of finely grated carrots
- 1 cup of drained crushed pineapple
Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
METHOD
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Cut out rounds of wax paper and place at bottoms of cake pans. Butter the top of the wax paper rounds.
2 Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in chopped walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.
3 Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 45-50 minutes (shift positions of cakes front-to-back if necessary about halfway through), until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick or sharp knife tip inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.
4 To prepare frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is free of lumps. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice.
5 Once cakes have cooled, frost. Sprinkle top with chopped walnuts or arrange walnut halves in a crown around the top.
Serves 12-16.
