Carrot Cake

Ingredients

    Tier One

    • 1 ¼ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
    • 2 Cup Granulated Sugar
    • 3 Eggs room temperature

    Tier Two

    • 2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
    • 1 tsp Baking Soda
    • 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
    • ½ tsp Salt
    • 1 tsp Cinnamon

    Tier Three

    • 2 Cup Carrots grated
    • 1 Cup Sweetened Coconut shredded
    • 1 Cup Nuts chopped (optional)
    • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
    • 1 Cup Crushed Pineapple not drained, in juice not syrup

    Cream Cheese Frosting

    • 1 Cup Butter softened
    • 16 oz Cream Cheese softened
    • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
    • 2 lb Powdered Sugar

    Optional Toppings

    • Toasted Pecans for garnish
    • Toasted Coconut for garnish

Instructions

  1. 1Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. 2Combine Tier One ingredients (applesauce, sugar, and eggs) in a bowl.
  3. 3Add Tier Two ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon).
  4. 4Stir in Tier Three ingredients (carrots, coconut, nuts, vanilla, and crushed pineapple).
  5. 5Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 two-pan or three 8-inch pans (the cake is very moist, so cutting parchment paper for the bottoms of the pans will ensure they don't stick or you can use non-stick spray with flour so they easily cake removed).
  6. 6Bake 35-40 minutes for the 9x13 or Quick Cake pans and 25-30 minutes for 8-inch cake pans. You are looking for an inserted toothpick to come out clean.
  7. 7Let cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
  8. 8For the frosting: Beat the butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy about 1 minute on medium speed then begin to add the sugar. Beat until nice and smooth.
  9. 9Invert the cake onto a cake plate or stand.
  10. 10Apply a generous dollop of frosting and spread.
  11. 11Gently place the second cake on top and continue frosting. Repeat with the third cake if you make three!
  12. 12Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving for best results.

Notes

The frosting recipe can be halved, if you are not planning on piping! I always end up using a lot of frosting decorations to the top sides of the cake.