Outrageous Carrot Cake

We had salad for dinner because I was making this bad-ass carrot cake!

The recipe was in a copy of Cooking Pleasures magazine and I fell in love with this sweet, sumptuous, mouthwatering cake the first time I laid eyes on it.  After I tried scratching and sniffing the photo, I licked it and wasn't satisfied.  So I made it.  And fell in love with the real thing.

If I ever meet anyone that doesn't like this, I'll know he/she is just plain cra-a-zy.

The last time I made it was when we had my brother, sister-in-law and nephew over for dinner (the first time I made pernil). We all had a slice for dessert. Rodney and I ate the remaining 2/3 of the cake in two days! Seriously, we had cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it was gone. And craved more.

Outrageous Carrot Cake

CAKE

3 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp ground cinnamon

6 eggs

2.5 c sugar

1.5 c canola oil

2.5 c finely grated carrots (about 6 carrots)

2 (8-oz.) cans crushed pineapple in juice, well-drained*

1 c shredded sweetened coconut

1 c finely chopped walnuts

FROSTING

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 c powdered sugar

1.5 c finely chopped walnuts, if desired

Evenly space 2 racks in oven. Heat oven to 350ºF.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into medium bowl.

Spray bottom and sides of 3 (9x2-inch) round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Coat pans evenly with flour mixture.

In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar at medium speed 1 to 3 minutes or until thickened and slightly lighter in color.

Beat in oil at low speed.

Stir in flour mixture until blended.

Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut and 1 cup walnuts until blended.

Divide batter evenly among pans.

Bake 25 minutes; turn and reverse cake pans. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake pulls slightly away from sides of pan. Cool in pans on wire rack 15 minutes.

Invert onto wire rack; remove parchment. Cool completely.

To make frosting, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl at medium speed 3 minutes or until blended and smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar; beat at low speed 1 minute or until blended and smooth.


Place 1 cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round; spread with 1 cup frosting. Repeat. Top with remaining cake layer; spread top and sides with thin layer of frosting. Coat sides with another smooth layer of frosting; spread remaining frosting on top. Press 11⁄2 cups walnuts onto sides of cake if you want.

(Cake can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, or 3 weeks ahead and frozen. To freeze, place cake in freezer until frosting is firm; wrap in plastic wrap, then heavy-duty foil. To defrost, place in refrigerator overnight; remove wrapping. Serve at room temperature.)

Refrigerate leftovers.

Serves 20!

Ease: If you do all the shredding and chopping by hand like I did, it's kind of a pain, but oh, so worth it.

Time: consuming. It takes about 4 hours total to make this from prep to frosting.  Part of that is because I only have 2, count 'em, 2 cake pans.  That means I divide the batter, bake 2, let them cool, pop a cake out of one of the pans, wash it, prep it, fill it and bake it.  Then I let that cool while I'm frosting the first two.  That's time consuming and requires some diligence.

Taste: I'm not playin' when I say it's exceptional.  Rodney says it's "dangerous".

Cost:

• flour: $3.49/5 lb.
• baking soda: $1/lb
• salt $0.50/lb
• ground cinnamon $3
• eggs $1.79/dozen
• sugar: $1.99/4 lb.
• oil: $2/quart
• carrots: $1/lb
• crushed pineapple in juice: $1/15 oz.
• shredded sweetened coconut: $2/lb.
• walnuts: $4
• cream cheese: $2/8oz.
• butter: $1
• vanilla extract: $1
• powdered sugar: $1.99/2 lb.

Total: about $30 -- with enough stuff left to make another cake!

I think it's perfectly clear that I'll be doing this again. And again. When I do, I'll remember to cut the frosting quantity by 1/3. There is always at least one cup left. How can you possibly pile that much frosting on without it just oozing everywhere?

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