Carrot Cake

I remembered while eating one of the last slices of this cake that I hadn't taken any photos of it. Hence the dirty fork and crumbs everywhere in this one. This photo does not do the cake justice. It was delicious.



I had decided to bake a carrot cake for a few reasons. I had been thinking about making one since my friend Jen's wedding a few weeks ago. Each layer of her wedding cake was a different flavor, one of which was carrot cake. It was amazing! I also wanted to take a dessert to Sue and Bruin's house on Friday, and Bruin can't eat anything with chocolate in it because he is allergic to caffeine (gasp!), so I had to think of something without chocolate. Since I had plenty of baby carrots in the fridge, I thought the carrot cake was a perfect choice.



The recipe I used is from a cookbook called Best of the Best from Ohio: Selected Recipes from Ohio's Favorite Cookbooks. The book was edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley, who have made compilation cookbooks like this for almost every state in the US. (I found out about them after buying Best of the Best from Georgia while on vacation this summer with my mom and sisters on Tybee Island. I borrowed the Ohio edition from my library.) The carrot cake recipe originally came from A Taste of Columbus Vol IV, which seems to be out of print but I would assume is a compilation of recipes from Columbus-area chefs, because the recipe notes that it was contributed by Chef Jim Girvis of the French Loaf.



Here is the recipe:



4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups oil

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 (8-1/3 ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice, drained

2 cups (packed) peeled and shredded carrots

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds because that's what I had, but if I made it again I would use pecans or walnuts)



Place eggs and oil in mixing bowl and blend well. Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Add to egg mixture and blend thoroughly. Add pineapple, carrots, and nuts. Mix well. Pour into greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool.



Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 (1-pound) box confectioner's sugar



Cream together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Add sugar and beat well. Frost cake and refrigerate for 2 days before serving.



I ended up baking it a little longer than called for because after 35 minutes it was still jiggly in the middle. I probably baked it for 45-50 minutes. It was really golden brown but I thought it would be better to have it be a little overdone on the edges rather than undercooked in the middle. When the cake cooled, I tasted a sliver to make sure it came out okay before making the icing. It was consistently very moist throughout. Maybe a little too moist for my liking.

I took half the cake to dinner on Friday and the other half to Bluffton on Saturday. Everyone seemed to like it, so that's good! I thought it was pretty delicious but I might want to try a different carrot cake recipe sometime to see if I can get one that's not so moist. But I would definitely recommend this recipe.