YIELDS:

16 servings

PREP TIME:

1 hours 30 mins

COOK TIME:

1 hours 0 mins

TOTAL TIME:

2 hours 30 mins

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ingredients

Cake

6 Cups of grated carrots

1 Cup of brown sugar

1 Cup of raisins

4 Eggs

1 ½ Cups white sugar

1 Cup canola oil

2 Tsps. Pure vanilla extract

1 Cup crushed pineapple, drained

3 Cups all purpose flour

1 ½ Tsp. baking soda

1 Tsp. kosher salt

4 Tsps. Ground cinnamon

1 Cup chopped toasted walnuts

frosting

1/4 Cup of room temperature butter (unsalted)

8 oz. room temperature cream cheese

2 Cups of confectioners’ sugar (sifted)

1 Tsp. Tahitian Pure Vanilla Extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Peel the carrots (about 8 medium carrots) and shred them in a food processor or on a manual grater. Put the shredded carrots in a large bowl with the brown sugar and stir. Let the mix sit for one hour. Then, add the raisins and stir them into the mix.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray two 10-inch cake pans with cooking spray, and flour the pans dumping out excess.

3. Chop your walnuts into small pieces and bake in the oven for about 8 minutes. Stir them once. (Watch them carefully to be sure they don’t burn). Let cool.

4. In your stand mixer (or use a hand mixer) beat the eggs until light. Gradually add in the white sugar, oil and vanilla alternating between all of them and making sure everything is really incorporate. Stir in the pineapple.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir this dry mixture into the wet mixture until everything is combined.
Stir the carrot mixture into this combined mix and add the walnuts (keep a small handful for garnishing the finished cake). Pour evenly into the two prepared cake pans.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is done. (Test with a toothpick. If it is inserted into the middle of the cake and it comes out clean, the cake is done.) Let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of each cake to loosen the cake from the pan. Remove from the pans and let cool completely.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Whip the butter and cream cheese in a mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar until well incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix until everything is smooth and creamy.

NOTE: I started making this carrot cake when my niece was just a little girl. She declared one year that her favorite cake was carrot cake and that was that. She now knows I’ll be whipping up this cake every birthday no matter what. The rest of the family doesn’t seem to mind since they love it too. There are a lot of steps to the cake but everyone always appreciates the effort so it is worth it. I’ve used this same batter to make cupcakes and a loaf cake. The frosting has been used on all versions of this cake and others. I’ve also used it as a dip with fresh fruit and as a spread for waffles and pancakes…yes, it is that good.

Brandy’s Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

ingredients

Cake

frosting

DIRECTIONS

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING