Eat Well, Live Happy: Carrot Cake

My sister threw a surprise 30th Birthday party for my brother-in-law this past weekend and wanted to make him a carrot cake. Not just any carrot cake though - one in the shape of a 3-0! With my mom's assistance, it came out looking pretty good, and more importantly, tasted great! The recipe they used was Paula Deen's Grandma Hier's Carrot Cake. I don't even usually eat carrot cake but I gave this a try and it was very good. They put pecans in one of the cakes and left them out of the other (both ways were great!).

And, if you want a delicious cream cheese frosting, I highly recommend the one that comes with this cake. I've been trying to find the perfect cream cheese frosting for when I make red velvet cake, and this one is the best I've made so far. I did not add pecans to the frosting, but I'm sure that would taste good as well.

With the combined effort and my sister's great idea of a 30th birthday cake for her husband, the cake came out delicious.

Carrot Cake

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

CAKE:
Butter, for pans
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrots
1½ cups chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour three 9-inch round pans. Line bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans (if using).

Pour batter into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on waxed paper and allow to cool completely before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick salted butter, room temperature
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Stir in the nuts (if using). Spread frosting on top of each cake layer. Stack the cakes on a serving place and serve.