Carrot Cake III

SUBMITTED BY: Tammy Elliott PHOTO BY: Allrecipes

"I've tried many carrot cakes, and this is my favorite recipe. If you don't like pecans, feel free to leave them out."

PREP TIME	30 Min
COOK TIME	1 Hr
READY IN	2 Hrs

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 1 - 9x13 inch cake

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INGREDIENTS

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

READ REVIEWS (987)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

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REVIEWS

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Reviewed on Dec. 8, 2006 by gneebeanie

After reading through 4-5 pages of the reviews, I consolidated the most referred alterations to this recipe to: 1) using 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar 2) adding an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract 3) adding 1 8oz. can of crushed pineapple (I squeezed out most of the juice before adding it, I didn't want any extra fluids in the cake) 4) Added 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg 5) added 1 extra teaspoon of cinnamon 6) used 3/4 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup applesauce. The result came out incredibly delicious - the cake was very flavorful and moist. For the frosting, I only used 3.5 cups of powdered sugar, and it was more than sweet enough, with a nicely balanced cream cheese vs. sweet flavor. If I would change anything again, I would use less pecans - it's a bit too nutty for my personal tastes. Also, I followed another reviewer's suggestion of grating the carrots with the large grater side (the one you use for cheese) so that you don't end up with a bunch of carrot mush and juice that can't be used. Will definitely make again! This is probably the best carrot cake I've ever had.

134 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Sep. 25, 2003 by s. warren

This recipe was incredible. After a box mix went awry, I turned to this terrific site to find a scratch recipe and decided to try this one. Scrumptious! Like some other bakers, I made a few substitutions and additions: instead of using 1 1/4 C oil, I used 3/4 C oil and 1/2 C applesauce; instead of 2 C white sugar, used 1 C white and 1 C brown; used walnuts instead of pecans and added 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. I used 2 9-inch greased and floured cake pans. I made this a week before Christmas, so I popped it into the freezer, taking it out to thaw the day before it was needed. It was like it was fresh baked! Then I made the frosting, using 3 C of confectioners' sugar instead of 4. The flavor was heavenly and I still had some left over. Everyone in the family gave rave reviews and had 2 pieces! The cake was gone by the next day. I will make this a Christmas tradition.

43 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Oct. 5, 2006 by UMFOOFOOWOO

I made some subs: 1.5 cups brown sugar (no white), half cup oil and 1 cup crushed pineapple (drained) instead of 1 1/4 cup oil, 2.5 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 3 tsp vanilla, omitted nuts and frosting. I baked in two 9 inch round cakepans for 40 minutes instead of a 9x13 pan. The result was perfectly moist cake with terrific flavor, and less guilt! Next time, I'll double the recipe so my cakes can be a bit taller, and I'll add crushed walnuts...but I can't imagine it being much better than this. Suggestion: if you're using a box grater, grate the carrots on the 2nd largest holes (same ones you use to grate cheese). I made the mistake of grating on the next smaller size holes last time, and used 5 cups of carrots (and 1/2 cup oil - no applesauce). The carrot shreds were too small and too many, and a lot of carrot juice was produced. All that extra liquid caused my "cake" to be more like a thin layer of rubbery pumpkin pie filling, even after cooking for over an hour. So make sure your carrot shreds are quite large, so you don't end up with all that unwanted carrot juice.

24 users found this review helpful

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