A Carrot Cake to celebrate my 100th post!

Dearest Readers,

To celebrate my 100th post, I thought I'd share with you a fabulous carrot cake recipe.  I made this for my husband's birthday when we first started dating and I'm pretty sure it is the reason he first fell in love with me!  (Of course he has since discovered a million other reasons to love me!).  I'm sending this over to Debbie at The Friday Friends for her Carrot Cake Showdown!

Carrot-Ginger Layer Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, April 1999.

Ingredients for cake:

unsalted butter, for pans

3 c. all purpose flour

1 c. (3 oz.) pecan halves, toasted and chopped

1 lb. large carrots, peeled and grated finely (should yield 2 1/2 cups grated)

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 c. lowfat buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. vegetable oil

1 Tbls. freshly grated ginger

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 recipe for Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:

1.  Butter and flour two 8 x 2 inch round cake pans.  Tap out excess and set aside.  

2.  Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees F.

3.  In a large bowl, place grated carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract, sugar, vegetable oil and ginger.  Whisk until combined.

4.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined.  Fold in the chopped pecans.

5.  Divide the batter between 2 cake pans and cook until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes.

6.  Remove the pans from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 minutes.  Turn cakes out onto the rack and let stand until completely cool.

7.  When completely cool, cut each cake in half crosswise to make 4 layers.  Place a layer on a cake stand and spread 3/4 c. frosting on top.  Repeat with the other layers.  On the last layer, spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake.  Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 3-4 hours.

Orange Cream-Cheese Frosting adapted from Martha Stewart Living, April 1999

Ingredients:

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 8 oz. bars of cream cheese, room temperature

3 c. confectioners sugar

1 Tbls. freshly grated orange zest

2 Tbls. freshly grated ginger

pinch of salt

Directions:

1.  Beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer approximately 2-3 minutes until fluffy.  

2.  Add the orange zest, ginger and salt and continue to beat well.

3.  Turn the mixer to low and beat in the 3 c. of confectioners sugar.  Beat until fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.