Carrot cake and little hands...two of my favorite things.
With all the talk about Easter already brewing, I am working on my sweets menu. We always have a big gathering with all of my family and lots of little cousins running around and food is a big part of our celebration. Being an Italian and Lebanese family, we have a lot of traditions that sit at our table; Easter Bread, Maamoul (recipe coming soon), Grain Pie (I think I will need to share this with you as well...look out for it) and many more, but we always love to add carrot cake to our table. The size of our dessert table is usually as big as our meal :), but I am kind of loving the idea of smaller and tastier! This Carrot Cake Loaf will be the perfect addition, packed with chunks of carrots, pecans and pineapple and topped with the creamiest cream cheese icing and spiced dried carrots for the most beautiful garnish. I spy the cutest little guy trying to steel a bite:)
Carrot Cake Loaf
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Loafs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- ½ cup pineapple, crushed
Cream Cheese Icing
- 6 oz Cream Cheese
- 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1 ¼ Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Carrot Cake Loaf
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease 2 loaf pans
- Mix sugar, oil and eggs together and beat with paddle attachment in mixer
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, & salt
- Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture
- Fold in carrots, pecans and pineapple with a spatula
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pans
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through
- Cool cakes before removing from pans
- Once cakes are cooled, ice with cream cheese frosting and garnish with dried carrot strings and a sprinkle of cinnamon
- Enjoy!
- (If you are not serving immediately, refrigerate. Take the cakes out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving to bring back to room temperature)
Cream Cheese Icing
- Mix butter and cream cheese with paddle attachment or hand held mixer until smooth
- add powdered sugar and vanilla extract
- *if you want your icing a little more stiff, add more powdered sugar*
Notes
- Dried Carrot Strings
- 1 Cup Carrots, Spiralized
- ¼ tsp Cinnamon, Ground
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
- Spiralize carrots and season with cinnamon
- Place on a drying rack in the oven
- Allow the carrots to dry out for 30-40 minutes
- Remove from the oven and allow the carrot to cool before garnishing the cake
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