The Way to a Man's heart...

Is through his stomach - or so my husband tells me. I am sure there are other ways, but delectable delights haven't hurt.
Shortly after meeting my husband, he told me that his two favorite desserts were carrot cake and key lime pie. As it turns out, both are insanely easy to make! Hooray. Of course, as with most things, just because it's easy to make - doesn't mean it's easy to make well. My first attempts were oily and heavy. Tasty, but not heavenly. I actually put carrot cake on the back burner for awhile.

Then I attended a state activity, and was served carrot cake via catering. While what I had was okay, it made me remember what I had made in the past. Even imperfect, it was still better. Which made me want to re-work my old recipe and find perfection. I think I was able to do just that.

Better Than the Bunny's Carrot Cake

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained.
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans do well)

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9 X 13 pan.
(2) Mix flour, salt, powder and soda together in bowl - set aside.
(3) In large bowl with whisk, whip eggs. Add oil, sugars, vanilla, and spices. Mix well.
(5) Fold in crushed pineapple and carrots.
(6) mix in dry ingredients including nuts.
(7) Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean.
(8) Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup nuts.

(1) Blend butter and cream cheese.
(2) Add in sugar. If you like a sweeter more "frosting like" consistency, use more sugar. If you want a creamier frosting - more cheesy - use less. I liked it at about 3.5.
(3) Add in vanilla.
(4) An electric mixer (handheld, stand, whatever) works best.
(5) Sprinkle nuts over the top after frosting, if desired.
If you're curious how I decorated the carrot cake, 1/3 of the way down I started the top of my carrot with a large piping tip. I just swirled around the tip to get the orange design. For the leaves, I just had fun with the leaf tip - which was surprisingly easy to learn!