Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (and bike rides)

Tuesday, February 14^th, 2012

I’m trying to be more active these days, and finding fun things to do to get my heart rate up is definitely a challenge. To explain it simply –
I loathe exercise.  I envy those who enjoy sweating and pushing their muscles to the point of exhaustion. I hope to become one of those unique creatures one day. But other than golfing, I haven’t found a single type of exercise that I find enjoyable. To all you nay sayers; yes, golfing is exercise! Just ask my sore muscles the day after I play a round.

Today I decided to try out biking (as in bicycle, not motorcycle), which is something I haven’t done in I don’t know how long. Let me tell you; whatever that saying is about never forgetting how to ride a bike isn’t true. At least not for me. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. Hopefully nobody witnessed me wobbling down the street. However, I didn’t fall off, so I think I can fairly say it was a successful ride. Maybe I’ll try again once my embarrassment subsides.

Anyway, the carrot cake turned out amazing and wasn’t affected at all by adjusting the measurements. The recipe I’m going to share with you today is for the small version; a 6 inch cake. I chose to divide the batter into two pans since I’m not the best at splitting layers. Perhaps I should invest in one of those gadgets that look like a saw with feet. The recipe can be doubled or tripled to make a larger cake. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake:

Makes one 6 inch cake (2 layers)

Ingredients:

2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ¾ cup finely grated carrots

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Makes enough to generously frost one 6 inch (two layer) cake.

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one 6 inch cake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Add half of the dry ingredients; mix until combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix. Fold in carrots until thoroughly combined. Be careful not to over mix. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until top of cake slowly springs back when pressed. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto counter and cool completely before frosting. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for longer storage.

To make frosting:

Mix butter, cream cheese and vanilla with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition, until fluffy.