Saturday, March 10, 2012

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my besties is turning 21!  It's Lauren's 21st birthday tomorrow and in honor of the day, we are having a little birthday party tonight.  What would a birthday party be without the cake? Right?

It was requested that the lovely lady have a carrot cake for her birthday and of course I have an amazing recipe.  I really can't take full credit for this one though, this recipe is a Donna original.  My mom's recipe is absolutely fantastic.

Every year for Thanksgiving, my mom would make this great cake.  When I was around 5 or 6 I asked her if I could help.  When I found out what went into the cake, I refused to eat it.  Let me explain.  The secret ingredient in this cake is baby food.  I went around telling everyone how gross the cake was because it had baby food in it and as a 5 year old, baby food was disgusting.  I mean, I was a big girl now and I was soooo over baby food.

Baby food, now that I have had a ton of experience baking, is a genius idea.  You get all the carrot-y goodness, but you don't have to deal with shredding the carrots.  Also, everyone I know who is a non-carrot cake believer, isn't a fan because of the strange consistency due to the shredded carrots.  This carrot cake ends up being super tasty, but without the weird consistency.  It's amazing!

Carrot Cake







Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 jars junior size baby carrots (Also known as #3 foods.  If you have trouble finding #3, you can do 4 jars of #2 baby food carrots)
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cloves
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a bundt cake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.
3. Cream sugar and eggs in a large bowl.  Mix in carrots until well combined.  Alternate adding the flour mixture with the oil, starting and ending with the flour mixture.  Mix in vanilla.
4.  Pour in prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. When cool, top with cream cheese frosting. (recipe below)

Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 8 oz packaged of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk

Directions:
Cream butter and cream cheese until well combined.  Slowly mix in sugar.  Finally, mix in vanilla and milk until you have the desired consistency.

The Birthday Girl cutting into the cake!

19 comments:

  1. I just found your blog and it is so fun to read! Nice to find a fellow college baker :) And this recipe is so unusual--I have never heard of putting baby food in anything but a baby's mouth, but I might have to try this haha.

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  2. Thanks so much! Your blog looks awesome as well! I know the baby food thing is pretty odd, but it really is good!

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  3. It might sound weird, but I believe baby food provides the right consistency for the carrot. The cake looks delicious, by the way. Looking forward to try the recipe :)

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  4. What an awesome way to make carrot cake, using baby food. I never thought of it. Thanks for sharing your mother's genius recipe with us. I'm sure Lauren's birthday was even more special thanks to this delicious looking cake. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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  5. hahah I actually love that you used baby food carrots! I just a made cake the other day with pear baby food and it was awesome, you just can't tell anyone whats in it..... :) Such a fun birthday cake!

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  6. I have to admit, baby food in cake sounds a little weird, but I would try it. It's still carrot cake after all. I love carrot cake, it just doesn't get the attention it deserves!

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    1. I completely agree! I hope you enjoy this one :)

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  7. I never thought to use baby food, brilliant!

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    1. Right? I gotta thank my mom for teaching me that!

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  8. I have never tried this recipe, thanks for sharing it. Looks delicious.

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    1. It's really good! I love how the texture is so smooth because you don't have to put in shredded carrots!

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  9. Thats a great little secret, I'm gonna try that!

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  10. This is a fabulous cake: original and delicious! No wonder the Birthday girl looks so happy :-).
    Thank you for sharing this recipe on RecipeNewZ. This post was very popular among our viewers and as such was featured on our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/RecipeNewZ. Congrats!

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