To-Die-For Carrot Cake {Recipe}

By foodiva

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce (or oil, this is what my Nana used)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup Dole crushed pineapple (not drained!) {use the pineapple in JUICE not syrup}
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 lb powdered sugar

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from momontimeout.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine #1 ingredients. Add #2 ingredients. Stir in #3 ingredients.
Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 13 or two 8 or 9-inch pans.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely! For the frosting:
Beat the butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until nice and smooth. In the interest of full disclosure, I ALWAYS double this recipe. We love our cream cheese frosting and although I never use it all, it's amazing on top of graham crackers. That's how my Nana would serve it to us for snacks ;)
Invert the cake onto a cake plate or stand.
Apply a generous dollop of frosting and spread...
Gently place the second cake on top and continue frosting.
Sometimes if the cake is crumbly, I'll do a crumb coat. If I'm in a hurry or don't think it's going to be an issue, I'll skip this step.

Instructions