Carrot Cake Recipe

I made this recipe as a practice for a cake order I have coming up at the end of the month. I was a bit skeptical to try it, as Paula Deen recipes have lots of butter and sometimes don't turn out the best. However, after sifting through a lot of the 216 reviews (this is still a 5-star recipe on the Food Network site), I decided to give it a try. And it was delicious! Get ready to grate your carrots kiddies, because this is a lot more labor intensive than dumping some boxed mix into a mixing bowl with some other ingredients!

I did not use this frosting recipe since I needed it to "crust" a little more than typical cream cheese frosting in order to apply the fondant, but from my judgment I would say that this frosting recipe will be delicious also! You can find the original posting of this recipe here.

Ingredients:

• Butter, for pans
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 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
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional (I used walnuts)

Frosting:

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

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round pans; Line 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 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 the frosting:

1. Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Stir in the nuts. Spread frosting on top of each cake layer. Stack the cakes on a serving plate and serve.