Last summer my daughter got married and I made the desserts that we served at her reception.  One of them was this carrot cake.  I received compliments on it for at least a month, and in all modesty, I have to admit that it was pretty good.

This is what I did.

Carrot Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Prepare pans by lining them with waxed paper.

Mix together:

2 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Canola Oil
1 Tsp Vanilla
3 Eggs
2 Cups Grated Carrots
1 Cup Crushed Pineapple (drained)
1/2 Cup Nuts (Walnuts or Pecans)

Mix all ingredients well.

• Pour the batter into the two cake pans, dividing it equally between the two.

• Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick in it and pull it out clean.

• Tip the cakes out upside down on a cooling rack and carefully remove the waxed paper.

• Allow cakes to cool thoroughly.
• If you need to store these for some time like I did for the wedding you can wrap each layer in plastic wrap individually and then put the two together in a plastic bag and freeze them.  I made some of mine a month early and they turned out great.

• In order to make each layer nice and level you can use a leveling tool.  I got mine at Walmart for about $3.00

I used a cream cheese frosting.  This is a great recipe.

Cream Cheese Frosting
16 ounces Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
1/2 Cup Butter (at room temperature)
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tsp vanilla

Allow to mix until it is very smooth – the longer the better.

• Cream cheese frosting tastes great, but it doesn’t work very well for decorating.
•  If you want to do anything fancy you will want to use a different recipe.
• I used the Wilton Buttercream Icing recipe.

Buttercream Icing