The Best Carrot Cake You'll Ever Have

     I could never figure out why carrot cake is so underrated.  I remember an old episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelai is choosing a cake for her wedding and takes pity on the poor carrot cake because apparently no one ever picks it. Well, I'm one of the few who actually would. Maybe it's because people don't think vegetables belong in desserts. It sounds like a bad idea, but for some mysterious reason, it really works well in carrot cake. In fact, it's probably my favorite cake, in large part because I think cream cheese frosting is one of the greatest inventions ever. I can't lie, this cake does take a couple hours to make, but much of that is just waiting, and it's worth the wait! It's at least 10 times better than anything you could buy at a store. Also, I apologize for going a little photo happy in this entry. It's just so pretty I couldn't resist. Just a couple of notes: 1. I decided to make a square cake, but of course you can make a round one. 2. The only thing that it's possible to screw up is not greasing your pans enough. Butter them, flour them, and if you want to be extra confident, line them with parchment paper and butter that too.
And now for a preview:

INGREDIENTS:
For cake:
1 pound of carrots (They usually come in 1 lb bags)
3 cups walnuts
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 cup of canned crushed pineapple, drained
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar

For frosting:
3/4 stick of butter, softened
2 8oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour either 2 8x8 square pans or 2 9in. round ones.
2. Peel the carrots, then grate them on a cheese grater.

3. Steam the carrots for 5 minutes in the microvave. If you don't have a microwave steamer basket, put them in a dish with 2 tablespoons of water and cover with plastic wrap.
4. Spread the walnuts out on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Then let them cool for a minute and chop them really small.

5. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

6. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and oil at medium speed. Add the eggs. Then add the vanilla and carrots and beat for 2 minutes.
7. Turn the speed to low and add the dry mixture, a little at a time. Then add the pineapple, coconut, and 1 cup of walnuts.

8. Pour the batter into pans and bake for 35 minutes. Then remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, flip the pans upside down onto a cooling rack. Ideally, the cakes will pop right out. If not, don't give up. Feel free to bang on the bottom of the pans until they come out. That's what I had to do, and they still cake out intact, but if you do lose a little on the top, you can cover it later with frosting. Let them cool on a wire rack out of the pans for an hour, then transfer one to a serving plate.

9. Make the frosting while you wait for the cakes to cool. Hint: To soften butter and cream cheese quickly, set them along the back of the stove for a few minutes while the oven is still hot. In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on high until they combine.
10. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and continue to mix until it's all incorporated. You may have to stop the mixer once or twice to scrape the sides of the bowl.

11. It's finally time to frost the cake. First, take 1/3 of the frosting and spread it on top of the cake you transferred to the serving plate. Obviously, this is the middle layer of the double-decker. It'll get covered up, so it doesn't have to look pretty.

12. Now place the second cake on top of this one. Take another 1/3 of the frosting and spread it on top. Since we're going to cover the whole thing in walnuts, this doesn't have to look pretty either.

13. Now take the last 1/3 of the frosting and spread it over the sides. This part takes the most time and patience.

14. Finally, take the last 2 cups of chopped walnuts and cover all sides of the cake with them. Now you're ready to slice into it. Store in the fridge.

Open your mind to the carrot cake. You won't regret it! Come back tomorrow for another yummy surprise!