Oregon Transplant: Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

It's finally time for...

The hubby's birthday cake!

This cake was a smashing success. It was gone in 3 days, and the only reason it lasted 3 days was because I asked the hubby to leave a piece for me to take pictures of. You know, when it was sunny and I had all this wonderful, natural light. Luckily, I was blessed with light on the 3rd day and by bedtime that night, the cake was a distant memory. Probably the fastest a birthday cake has ever gone in this house. I guess we really know what the hubby's favorite cake is now.

This cake worked for everyone. I had bought mini-vanilla cupcakes at the grocery store for the kids, as I wasn't sure if they would eat the cake after they learned it was called carrot cake. We are talking, like, extremely picky eaters here. To my pleasant surprise, only 1 of them put up a fight over the carrot cake and by the end of the day, even he had tried it and liked it. You know it's good when the kids devour it. My niece said she wanted this cake for her birthday. Minus the walnuts, of course. Psssh, kids.

I'm not the world's best baker. I get really nervous every time I have to serve cake to a large crowd of people. Will it be dry? Will it taste good? Is it too sugary? Too dense? I get worked up every time, imagining all the ways the cake could go wrong. Does this feeling go away with time and experience? I don't know yet, because I was beyond nervous as we cut into this cake. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, because I was immediately met with rave reviews. The cake is super moist and flavorful. Not too dense. Not too sweet. Just flat-out mmm, mmm good.

My other worry? It wasn't big enough to feed a crowd. This concern turned out to be a non-issue. The cake feeds plenty.

Everyone loved the frosting in the middle. The hubby's aunt exclaimed her excitement as soon as the first piece was cut (she's a frosting nut!). The maple-y, creamy frosting works amazingly with the cake.

The hubby's family just loves to celebrate birthdays...

Putting candles on the cake.

My MIL and I lighting the candles.

Birthday boy blowing out his candles.

Instead of a crazy picture of the whole family, I thought I'd share one where we all look quite normal. You know, because we are normal :)

I'm afraid I have some bad news, and you all probably saw this coming. I'm taking next week off from the blog. Boooo. Yes, I realize I took 2 weeks off in September. The audacity. However, this is technically, technically, my honeymoon. Plus, after calling AT&T yesterday, we realized we have no international plan on our phones. Sooooo, the internet is not something I'm going to be using a whole lot of down in Mexico. I'm sorry to take so much time off this fall, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Ha ha. What a perfect foodie metaphor!

See y'all in a week!

Ingredients:

Cake-

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup canola oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup pineapple puree (I took 8 ounces sliced, canned pineapple and pureed until smooth)

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, room temp

3 cups grated, peeled carrot

2 inches fresh ginger, grated

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Frosting-

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Butter and flour 2 (9 inch) springform pans.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour through nutmeg. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

3. Combine oil through pineapple puree. Whisk until well blended. Mix in the vanilla. Mix in the eggs, one by one. Add the flour mixture, mix until well blended. Using a spatula, fold in the carrot and ginger.

4. Divide batter evenly among pans. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

5. To make the frosting, combine cream cheese through maple syrup in a large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer (you could make this in a stand mixer as well), beat until fluffy. Let chill for 20 minutes in fridge before using, to hold its shape.

6. To assemble the cake, frost one entire cake. Then place the second cake on top, and continue frosting the whole cake. Sprinkle the walnuts on top, if using. Slice, and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

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