I found this recipe years ago courtesy of a blogger who no longer has a site. This was long enough ago that blogs were still new and she was an early adopter. I don’t remember her name or the name of her site but she was an attorney who worked for the State of New York, lived outside of Albany, was both a knitter and a sewer and was married with 3 kids I think.
I have in my notes that this recipe originated with Berta’s Carrot Cake recipe in The New Basics cookbook, although the original blogger made some changes to cooking times.
This recipe calls for cooked pureed carrots. It does seem to help keep the cake moist and there’s no carrot shredding necessary. That by itself is enough to sell me on this recipe. If I shred carrots on a grater I always lose a fingernail or scrape a knuckle. A food processor works fine but then I have a bazillion parts to wash. This way, I peel the carrots, steam them, mash them up and I’m done. I’ve discovered that the puree doesn’t have to be completely smooth either, small chunks work just fine.
It’s the only carrot cake recipe I’ve used for more than five years. There are no raisins but lots of pineapple, coconut and walnuts, all the yummy stuff.
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup oil (I used canola)
3 eggs beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pureed cooked carrots (DO NOT skip the step of steaming the carrots until very soft, pureeing them, and cooling them down. One pound of carrots will give you just enough puree for one cake. The secret to this cake’s moistness is in the pureed carrots).
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl. Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla and beat well. Fold in the carrots, walnuts, coconut and pineapple. Pour the batter into your prepared pan(s) (see below) and bake.
When thoroughly cooled, ice it with this frosting:
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
6 T butter, at room temp
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
juice of 1/2 lemon
Cream the butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioner’s sugar and continue beating — avoiding lumps. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. The cook gets to lick the beaters.
What size pan to use?
The original recipe called for a 9 by 13 inch cake pan lined with greased waxed paper and said to bake for 50 minutes. I don’t remember ever using a cake pan but maybe I did when I first made this recipe. Go ahead and do that if you want to take the cake to a party or if it just floats your boat.
As you can see from the picture when I make a cake I almost always make cupcakes or mini-bundt cakes. I have silicone baking cups like these and these and some mini bundt pans (no longer available) that I got from King Arthur Flour. The small ones make the perfect serving size for me and the bigger ones are Jack-sized. (Guess who eats most of the desserts in this house?) I know some people have issues with silicone and how it bakes, but these seem to work well for me. I don’t grease the silicone pans. Cooking time: I start testing around 15 – 20 minutes, but you may go as long as 30 minutes depending on your pan size.
This recipe freezes well, including the frosting. Smaller portions will defrost while you eat dinner if you remember to take them out beforehand. If not, 10 – 15 seconds in the microwave does the trick.
Enjoy!
