Carrot Cake with Lemon Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots, peeled, shredded
- 1 cup corn oil
- 8 ounce crushed unsweetened pineapple, drained
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup walnuts, coursely chopped
- 1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- Fresh edible flowers
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 deg. Butter three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms with waxed paper. Butter paper. Mix together oil, pineapple, eggs, vanilla and carrots. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Stir into oil mixture. Mix in walnuts. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cook cakes in pans on racks. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Chill until firm but spreadable, about 1 hour. Turn cakes out of pans; peel off waxed paper. Place 1 cake on platter. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over. Top with second cake. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over. Top with third cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Let sstand 3 hours at room temperature before serving.) Garnish cake with flowers. Recipe calls for carrots to be cut into 1/2-inch pieces and cooked in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain. Puree in processor, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Transfer to large bowl and cool. I prefer to use the shredded carrots and have had very good results. I have also baked this in a large sheet cake size pan and adjusted the cooking time.