Carrot cake

My college roommate gave me this recipe, which we originally made as cupcakes. It is also delicious as a layer cake.

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 2 cups plus more for pans all purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 cups grated carrots (I grate with the food processor - a little extra chop helps distribute the carrots. Don't use pre-grated carrots.)
  • 2 cups chopped pecans

For the frosting

  • 2 (8 oz) packages room temperature cream cheese
  • 1 stick room temperature salted butter
  • 1 (16 oz) box powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round pans, or 3 smaller pans, and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and 1 1/2 cups pecans, if using.

  3. Pour into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on waxed paper and allow to cool completely before frosting. For cupcakes, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.

For the frosting

  1. Add cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Sti

Original recipe adapted from Grandma Hiers' southern carrot cake recipe.