Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If it seems like I've been doing a lot of baking lately, it's probably because I have. I do a lot of fundraising and it always seems to involve some kind of baking because that's what I enjoy doing. Even after a long day at work and busy times walking the dogs etc, I enjoy relaxing with my mixmaster running and the oven pre-heating.

I quite often get requests to bring my carrot cake to functions. It's a family recipe that I have made for years but I think it's a pretty basic recipe. This time, I made single layers (excellent frosting to cake ratio) and stenciled a cute heart for Valentine's Day. I made 36 of these beauties and I didn't have any leftover so I guess they went pretty well. I think I'm baked out for awhile. Time to get back to my challenges and start prepping for my major fundraiser in June.


Here's the recipe if you want to try it yourself:
Traditional Carrot Cake
 
Sift together:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Then add:
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil

Mix above well, then blend in:
2 cups carrots, finely grated
1 can (14oz) crushed pineapple drained
3/4 cups pecans, chopped

Bake in 2 large 9 inch cake pans prepared for cakes at 350F for 40 min.

When cool frost with:
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 brick (250 mL) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla 
Mix together well.