I don’t bake from scratch very often, but when I came across this recipe for carrot cake, I knew it was something I had to try and make!  For me, there’s nothing worse than dry cake… but in this case, this cake is particularly moist thanks in part to the addition of crushed pineapple.  The original recipe called for baking it in two 9-in rounds, but I only had one round cake pan on hand so I made a Bundt cake instead!  Because the recipe took into consideration icing two rounds and the layer in between, I cut the quantities of the ingredients in half when making the icing.  This cake will wow you with it’s texture and flavor, plus… who doesn’t love a good piece of carrot cake?!?

Ingredients: Makes one standard Bundt cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/2 lb cream cheese, room temp
• 1/2 stick butter, room temp
• 1 stp vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Generously grease a Bundt cake pan.
3. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
4. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and oil.
5. Beat eggs into the sugar and oil mixture using a hand held mixer.
6. Stir in the carrots, walnuts and pineapple.
7. Stir in the flour mixture.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan.
9. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. In the meantime, prepare the icing by creaming the cream cheese and butter using a stand-up mixer.
11. Add the vanilla and continue to mix.
12. Slowly incorporate the confectioners’ sugar, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl if needed.
13. Store icing in fridge until cake is cooled.
14. Make sure cake is completely cooled before flipping and transferring it to a cake plate.
15. Remove icing from the fridge 30 minutes prior to icing.
16. Ice the cake and then chill entire cake before serving.

*Recipe adapted from thebrookcook.com