Buttermilk Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This cake holds very well for a week or more in the refrigerator and makes a delightful snack for the mid-afternoon munchies! You can opt to make this cake as a 9x13 rectangular cake or as a layer cake using either two 9-inch pans or three 8-inch pans. One day my dad, who is the original ice cream junkie, actually asked for a piece of this in lieu of a hot fudge sundae. That took me by surprise because I’m not sure if he’d ever chosen cake over ice cream before in his life! That's how delicious this cake really is!
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk no substitute for this
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups grated carrots can use the grater on a food processor or hand-held grater
- 1 flat can 8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup raisins (soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes, then drained to plump them up before baking)
- 2/3 cup walnuts or pecans quartered, not chopped
- 6 ounces flaked coconut
Cream Cheese Frosting (for 9x13 or 2 9-inch layers)
- 1 8- oz. package cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cube butter 2 oz., softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 4 teaspoons vanilla
Garnish
- 2 cups pecans pieces, toasted for layer cake sides
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease or spray 9x13 rectangular baking pan. (*Can also use three 8-inch or two 9-inch round pans)
- Reconstitute the raisins in 1 cup boiling water to plump them up. Let stand for about 15 minutes and then squeeze the excess liquid out through a sieve. Set aside.
- Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar with oil, buttermilk, and vanilla.Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add dries (dry ingredients) and mix well.
- Add pineapple, carrots, raisins, coconut, and nuts. Mix thoroughly.The batter will be very thick. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes for the 8 or 9 inch round pans, or 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes for a 9 x 13 inch oblong pan (depending upon whether you use a glass or metal pan), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- *Reduce baking time for layer cake rounds by about 10 minutes.
Frosting
- Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add vanilla and sugar and beat until smooth. Frost on top of cooled carrot cake.
- For layer cakes, pat the chopped pecans into the sides of the frosting all the ways around the cake. This is totally optionally, so if you don’t love nuts, just leave this part out!
- *Frosting adjustments for layer cakes: 2 layers of 9” - use 1.5 times the recipe and for 3 layers of 8”- use 16 oz. cream cheese, 1 cube butter and 6 cups sifted powdered sugar.
Notes
You can also add raisins to this cake, regular or blond raisins work. If you add raisins, I’d add 1 cup of them. I always like to soak the raisins in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes to make them nice and plump before adding them to the cake batter. Ring them out by hand or push them down into a strainer before you add them to the cake to discard any excess liquid!
For baking this cake, you can use a 9x13 inch pan, metal or glass, or 8 or 9 inch round pans. Just as a heads-up, if you do use a glass pan, be sure to reduce the oven temperature to 325 F. The cake make take a bit longer to bake, but don’t worry, it will be worth it!