I’m really not much of a cake eater. If the only desert in the world was ice cream, I’d be OK with that. But if the masses are demanding cake, this is a good one. You can even tell yourself it’s healthy if that makes you feel better. It does have carrots, coconut and nuts in it after all.
The usual recipe instructions are to sift together the dry ingredients, so the baking soda is evenly distributed. Do I do that? Of course not. I might dump them in a bowl and give them a stir, but seriously, after you beat the cake together how can the ingredients not be well mixed?
In fact, I used to make this cake by grating the carrots in a food processor. Then since I’d already mucked up one appliance I hate to clean, I would just dump all the ingredients into the food processor and mix them up. I never had any complaints.
But now I have been informed that Mr. Man junior doesn’t like to see big pieces of carrot in his cake. The horror! So I grate the carrots by hand with a very fine grater and try to tell myself I’m building upper body strength.
When you measure your grated carrots, just drop them into the measuring cup. Don’t pack them unless your goal is to make a big orange brick.
CARROT CAKE:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrots
1 small (8-1/2 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3-1/2 oz of angel flaked coconut
Sift (or just stir) the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, cinnamon). Beat the eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla together. Pour in the dry ingredients and beat to combine. Stir in the carrots, pineapple, coconut and nuts. Pour into a greased and floured 9 X 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean and not gooey.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 cube butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar, adding more as needed if the frosting isn’t firm enough.