I’m not much of a cook, but I do love to bake. And I have made some kick-ass chocolate cakes in my time, but nothing – and I mean NOTHING – has earned the raves of my family like the carrot cake I made them. Seriously. I don’t get it either. I said to My Kid, “You know there’s vegetables in that.” He didn’t care. He ate two more pieces.
The lovely thing about this recipe – which I horked somewhere off the internet and do not claim to take credit for having created – is that it’s from scratch but it’s SO EASY. I tend to go for those “Start with a box of yellow cake mix…” recipes. Because, you know, why gather a lot of loose ingredients when Betty Crocker was kind enough to do it for me and package it all up in a nice little box?
And this carrot cake doesn’t require a lot of grating and soaking and preparing of raw vegetables. No, it has a SECRET INGREDIENT that makes preparation a snap. Cake recipe after the jump.
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 (4.5 ounce) jars carrot baby food
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground clovesPreheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil; beat well. Add eggs, carrots, and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat mixture until smooth. Combine flour, salt, soda, and spices; add to creamed mixture, beating well. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then transfer layers to wire racks.
ICING
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
Combine cream cheese and butter or margarine, beating until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla and confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth. Fill and frost the cake with cream cheese frosting.
(Note: I made the cake from scratch, but I cheated and bought canned cream cheese frosting.)
