MUST Try Carrot Cake

Think you don’t like Carrot Cake? Think again!

My husband hates Carrot Cake so I haven’t had it in years. I decided I wanted to make some as part of my desserts for my family Christmas on the weekend. As I was making it on Friday I asked hubby why exactly he doesn’t like Carrot Cake. The reason I asked is because there are many things that he doesn’t like, but a lot of those things he doesn’t like because either his Mom made them or bought them often when he was a kid. So his answer for why he doesn’t like Carrot Cake? His Mom used to buy it when he was a kid. I said then he hasn’t had GOOD Carrot Cake, he’s had store-bought overly sweetened and dry Carrot Cake.

As with most things he said if I make it he will try it. Yes, my hubby absolutely loves my cooking and baking and there’s more than a few things that he wouldn’t touch before that he will now, as long as I make it LOL. So I found a great recipe for Carrot Cake, made my own little tweaks to it as usual. As soon as I had it iced I took a bite and I think I swooned just a bit at the awesomeness. I took him a bite, gave it to him and told him I had 3 extra pieces that wouldn’t fit in the container I was putting it in. After his bite his response was, “I’ll have them!”. He had another piece at dinner Saturday night, then another 2 pieces late Saturday night/Sunday morning before we went to bed. Then another 2 pieces last night. There’s no more Carrot Cake. We’re all very sad. We want more, the kids want more.

Not only did he “hate” Carrot Cake, but he hates Pineapples and this cake has crushed pineapples in it. Sometimes all it takes to make someone love something they thought they hated is to make it right! LOL! You just can’t compare store-bought to homemade. Yeah, store-bought is good if you’re in a pinch, but this cake didn’t take much more time than it would have to bundle up, warm up the car, drive to the store, pick out a cake, stand in line to pay for the cake, get back to the car, drive back home……all for something that might make do, but will not be absolutely fantastic like homemade!

I think I will be finding myself in the kitchen making Carrot Cake again for our Christmas Dinner that I’m going to do Saturday. If you need a fantastic dessert recipe for Christmas dinner and want something different than traditional Pumpkin recipes or Cheesecakes, this is the one!! It is so incredibly moist and not overly sweet. I reduced the sugar from the original recipe and used Applesauce instead of Oil, so it’s better for you too .

 

Carrot Cake

Inspired by Carrot Cake by Lennie

2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Apple Sauce

3 eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 cups Shredded Carrots

1 8oz Can Crushed Pineapple, drained

Frosting

1 8oz Package Cream Cheese, softened

¼ cup Butter, softened

1 to 1 ½ cups Icing Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Sift together and mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the center and add sugar, apple sauce, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in carrots and pineapple. Pour into a well greased 9x13 pan. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 F.

For frosting cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract, Sift and add icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Frost cake.

Jolene