Happy Birthday Don!

Today is my husbands birthday!  And miracles of miracles I have the day off!  Soooooo.... I thought that I would make him his favorite cake.  I wanted a simple and easy cake because I had a million other things to try to get done today.  I saw this sheet cake recipe here and thought that I would give it a try.  There are no fruit or nuts in this carrot cake.  It has only carrots, imagine that!  I followed the recipe as written until I got to the part where all the flour was  all mixed in.  The batter was very thick and stiff....more like a quick bread than a cake.  I had some buttermilk in the fridge so I added a couple of splashes to loosen it up and make it look more like a cake batter.  It was moist and not overly sweet.  The carrots really shine through!!! 

 

 A great choice! 

Carrot Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves 12-15, depending on the size of your slices

2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup (6 ounces) canola oil
1 cup (8 ounces) granulated sugar
4 cups grated carrots (a little less than 2 pounds of whole carrots)
1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, powder, soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla. Set both aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the oil and sugar in a mixer or by hand until they reach a uniform consistency. With the mixer on low, beat 1/3 of the flour. Next, add 1/3 of the eggs. Continue adding the flour and eggs in alternating additions. Stop mixing when the last of the flour is just barely incorporated. Fold the carrots into the batter with a spatula, working slowly and gently until the carrots are distributed and no more dry flour remains.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and tap the dish a few times against the counter to work out the air bubbles. Bake for 45-50 minutes, rotating once during baking. The finished cake should be slightly puffed in the middle and browned on the edges. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting, about one hour, or wait to frost until the next day. Leftover cake can be kept, covered, at room temperature for several days. You can also wrap the unfrosted cake in aluminum foil and freeze it for up to 3 months.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Faith Durand's recipe
Makes enough to thickly cover a 9x13" cake
1/4 cup (2 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioner's sugar
pinch of salt
Beat together the butter and cream cheese. Slowly beat in the vanilla, confectioner's sugar, and salt. Increase to high speed once the frosting starts to come together into lumps. Beat until creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary