A while back, I came across a post on Simply Recipes for a Carrot Cake that looked delicious, and when I received carrots in my FFTY this week, I decided to give it a try. Which is just as well, since Miss Thing was threatening to revolt if I made Glazed Carrots again. It’s also handy that Carrot Cake happens to be one of Mr. Man’s favorite desserts AND I had a friend coming over that night – I mean, how many excuses do you really need to make delicious, moist, yummeh caek?

I don’t often bake Carrot Cakes, even though I like them very much – but that is probably because I don’t often buy carrots. Of course, lately, I rarely buy any vegetables except some fresh herbs from the grocery store. My weekly delivery keeps me more than busy now. Which really makes grocery shopping much easier. I can just pop in, grab some staples and maybe hit the butcher and zip-bam-boom, outta there.

Anyhow, it’s nice to mix things up a little bit and try making something a little more unexpected with the veggies that I get each week, and this case was definitely a nice change of pace. I was a little surprised at the thickness of the batter before I added my ‘extras’, so if you decide to make this cake and want to skip the pineapple, be prepared to have a like/equal amount of some other liquid to replace it with, or you will probably be a pretty sad panda.

Most of the measurements I kept the same, but I did mix up the extras a bit, and I replaced the olive oil or grapeseed oil that was called for in the original recipe with the milder Safflower Oil (which is my go-to oil for baking whenever I want the flavors of the other ingredients to be highlighted). Next time I think I’d leave out the lemon juice in the Cream Cheese frosting – it was good, but I felt like the lemon flavor was distracting, and would have been happier with out it.

The cake though, was freaking amazing – and will now be my go-to recipe for carrot cake. I can’t believe how delicious it turned out. In fact, it barely (if at all) needed the icing, it was so moist and flavorful.

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Flour
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbs Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 and 1/2 Cups Safflower Oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbs Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Pecans; chopped
• 2 cups Carrots; finely grated
• 1 cup crushed Pineapple
• 1/4 cup Brandy
• 1/4 cup Candied Ginger

Cake Method:

• Preheat the Oven to 350°
• Spray two 9″ Cake pans with cooking spray
• Cut out 2 rounds pieces of Parchment Paper to fit inside the cake pans
• In to a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and ginger
• Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla and Beat well (batter will be very thick)
• Gently Fold in the Pineapple, carrots, and brandy until batter is moistened
• When combined, stir in the Pecans and Ginger
• Divide the batter between the two cake pans
• Bake on the middle rack of oven for 45-50 minutes, or until knife inserted in to the center of cake comes out clean
• Cool cake in the pan, on a cake rack
• Cool Completely before icing

Frosting Ingredients:

• 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 6 tbs butter, softened
• 2 and 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Frosting Method:

• Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.
• Add Powdered Sugar a little bit at a time until close to desired consistency
• Stir in Vanilla and Lemon juice
• Frosting will thicken a little as it stands, so recommend frosting the cake immediately