My Favorite Cake (Chunky Carrot)

My favorite cake is carrot cake.  It’s super moist, has lots of flavors, and it’s a vehicle for cream cheese frosting.  However, I don’t like boring carrot cakes where the only interest is carrots and maybe a little cinnamon.  I like my carrot cake to be really chunky, full of spices, and a mixture of textures.  I found an Ina Garten recipe for carrot and pineapple cake that I tried and loved.  However, this recipe is not in any of her cookbooks and I cannot figure out why.  It is available on foodnetwork’s web site. 

I only have this particular carrot and pineapple cake on my birthday because it’s a special cake to me (not to mention it’s quite large and rich).  I was happy again this year to eat it!  Enjoy! (Thanks to my mom for making it this year!)

Carrot and Pineapple Cake

2 cups sugar

1 1/3 vegetable oil (or you can use half oil and half unsweetened applesauce)

3 eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour, divided

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup raisins

3 tablespoons dark rum

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional- I do not like my cake with nuts in it)

1 pound carrots, grated

½ cup diced fresh pineapple (canned is fine too)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 pound cream cheese at room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 pound powdered sugar

Butter and flour 2 (8 inch) cake pans (tap excess flour out) and line the bottoms with parchment paper

In a small bowl, combine raisins and rum

Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 1 minute

Uncover and set aside to cool (this plumps the raisins and infuses them with flavor)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat sugar, oil (and applesauce if using), and eggs until light yellow

Add vanilla

In another bowl, sift 2 ½ cups flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients

Toss raisins and walnuts (if using) with 1 tablespoon flour

Fold in carrots, pineapple, rum soaked raisins (don’t add the liquid), and walnuts into the batter

Divide batter equally among the cake pans and smooth out the top

Bake 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick come out clean

Cool cakes completely in the pans set over a cooling rack

For the frosting:

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until combined

Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth

Place 1 layer, flat side up on a cake stand or plate and generously frost the top

Place the other layer, flat side down, on top and frost the top

Garnish with fresh pineapple

(you can double the frosting to frost the sides of the cake if you wish)