Carrot Cake for my birthday!!!

As most of you may know, Thursday, March 3rd was my birthday. As I’ve said before, growing up I would request Mrs. Kelm’s Chocolate Cake every year for my birthday. My dad would take pictures of my laying down next to the decorated cake or some character like Barney, or some ballerina that my mom would make. As I grew older, we discovered Mississippi Mud Cake, out of the “Pigtails and Froglegs” cookbook from Neiman Marcus. This become our “birthday tradition” every year since. If you know me well enough, you also know that I LOVE Oreos, so last year I requested an Oreo Cheesecake…yet to be blogged. It is absolutely devine, sinfully rich, and delicious.

This year, on the contrast, I thought I would be “healthy”, so I requested a Carrot Cake, my most favorite “flavor” of cake in the whole world. Since I had just recently made the Mississippi Mud and Mrs. Kelm’s Chocolate Cake, I was definitely not craving chocolate this year for my birthday. My mom made this same delicious Carrot Cake last year for Easter out of Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking From My Home to Yours” cookbook. We loved it…obviously! Why else would I request this cake again? My mom used her own recipe for the icing.

When we made this cake for Easter last year, we made it in a 9 x 13 inch pan…the easier method.

For my birthday, I requested, that she make it into a three-tiered cake….the most beautiful way you can bake a cake. It turned out gorgeous and delicious and was the best birthday I could have ever asked for!

Carrot Cake

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots; we grated them in a food processor fitted with a shredding blade)

1 cup coarsley chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

1/2 cup moist, plump raisins (we omitted because the males in our family don’t like dried fruit)

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola or safflower oil

4 large eggs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch cake pan, flour the insides and tap out the excess. (Can make into three 9×2 inch round cake pans instead).

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins (if using).

3. In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the sugar and oil together on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix in the chunky ingredients.

5. Pour batter in baking pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Cool until room temperature and then add the frosting.

Yield 8-10 servings

Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese,

1 pound powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup pecans, chopped finely