Molly's High Country Garden Carrot Cake

Submitted by 2hot2handle

"This recipe is so named because my daughter helped me make it, and we used carrots pulled from our garden right before baking. This is also a cake for high altitude (I'm at a little over 5000 feet, so beware if you are 7000+). What I did was take highly rated carrot cake recipe and adjust it for altitude and personal taste (added nutmeg, for example). It did fall a bit in the middle, but I think that's because I couldn't resist opening the oven door at one point (bad!). Nonetheless, everyone said it was the best carrot cake they'd eaten, and it was super moist. I've since edited the amount of vegetable oil down a bit because that might have been what made it a touch heavy. If you want to prepare it the way I did originally, use 1 1/2 cups of oil. Also, I use half grapeseed and half canola oil. I'm convinced the grapeseed oil contributes to an exceptionally moist cake. For the cream cheese frosting, I used recipe #6536 by riffraff, but I've included it here to save time. Frosting was absolutely delicious and I made no changes except to use orange food color (as you can see from the photos)."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 18

ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 1⁄3 cups vegetable oil
• 2 3⁄4 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 cups carrots, grated (on large side of grater)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped (optional, could also use raisins)

• For Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1⁄8 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk (or cream)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to egg mixture. Stir in grated carrots and pecans or raisins if using. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool. Turn the cake over onto a platter and let cool completely before frosting.
4. For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter together with a mixer. Add vanilla and powdered sugar, and beat until combined. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of milk or cream until the frosting is the consistency you like for spreading.