Carrot Cake

At my office, we celebrate birthdays with a potluck-style meal or a group lunch at a restaurant, and someone always brings cake for dessert. Sometimes that cake is store-bought, and sometimes someone volunteers to make it. For our recent April birthday, I volunteered to make a carrot cake -- mostly for my own benefit, since I've been craving carrot cake pretty much ever since I was pregnant, more than a year ago. The only problem was, I'd never made a carrot cake before, so I didn't have a reliable recipe to turn to. So of course I turned to the Pioneer Woman. She has never steered me wrong before, and she came through for me once again.

This cake is amazing. What I love about it is its simplicity; the only spice it contains is cinnamon, it doesn't have any raisins in it -- but it's still the most delicious carrot cake I've ever had, without question. It simply doesn't need anything to fancy it up. It's moist and rich, and can we talk about the icing for a moment? I would like to rub the icing all over my face so it would be within easy reach whenever I wanted a lick. It is that good.

I can't recommend this cake highly enough. Everyone at work loved it, including the birthday girl, and I was even able to sneak a few pieces home for Joe. He has since informed me that I have to make another cake, just for us, as soon as I possibly can. And I have no objections to that whatsoever.

Carrot Cake
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

For the cake:

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots

For the icing:

1 stick (1/4 pound) regular butter, softened
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese
1 pound powdered sugar
1 cup pecans, chopped finely (I chopped mine coarsely because I like the texture)
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Add carrots and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured pan (Bundt, sheet cake, 9 x 13 Pyrex) and bake until done, 25 to 50 minutes, depending on the pan you use (I used a dark 9 x 13 pan, and mine was ready in about 40 minutes). Cool completely.

2. For the icing, cream butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in the nuts. Spread on cooled carrot cake.