Anniversary Carrot Cake
Anniversary Carrot Cake with buttermilk glaze and cinnamon cream cheese frosting is Marc's favorite carrot cake in the world. And that's saying something.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups coarsely grated peeled carrots
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- 8 ounces crushed pineapple and juice canned or fresh works
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts if that’s your thing
glaze
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 4 ounces 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup no actually necessary, but makes it melt nicely
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
frosting
- 12 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature
- 16 ounces powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 13x9 pan.
- Beat eggs, sugar, and oil for 2 minutes until it’s light and frothy.
- Mix in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, carrots, coconut, pineapple and pecans just until smooth.
- Transfer batter to pan.
- Bake 30 minutes and remove from the oven and cover with foil.
- Continue to bake until tester inserted comes out clean (10 – 15 minutes more).
- Remove from oven. Poke holes all over the cake.
- Let cool completely (sometimes I throw it in the freezer for a little bit. Make sure you set the timer for 10 minute increments because you don’t want it to even begin to freeze). To make the glaze, bring sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup and baking soda to boil in large saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil until glaze is deep amber, whisking often. Glaze will thin out and be at risk for boiling over as it caramelizes. Keep an eye on it. When it’s a deep golden color, remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over the cake.
- Let sit and soak in while you make the frosting. Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon; beat until very fluffy.
- Spread frosting over cooled cake in pan.
- I added a cute little curl of carrot for the garnish.
- Oh, and here's a candid from our wedding all those years ago.
Notes
Wanna be slightly more virtuous? If you’re not a crazy frosting maniac, you might want to do less.
8 ounces cream cheese
3 ounces butter (6 tablespoons)
12 ounces powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¾ teaspoon cinnamon Adapted from Adapted from a recipe from Bon Appetit that isn’t posted online- unfortunately I don’t have the date.
8 ounces cream cheese
3 ounces butter (6 tablespoons)
12 ounces powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¾ teaspoon cinnamon Adapted from Adapted from a recipe from Bon Appetit that isn’t posted online- unfortunately I don’t have the date.