Mother's Day Carrot Cakes and some Exciting News!

I know that Mother's Day has come and past but I never got around to making this post... mostly because of my current condition - I'm pregnant! Mother's Day was a special day because that is when we told our mothers (and the rest of our families) by showing them our first ultrasound pictures. Blogging has slowed down a bit, especially during the nausea portions of the first trimester. Anyway, I had wanted to make a carrot cake for my mother-in-law since I kept missing opportunities to do so earlier in the year. I decided to try out a new recipe which turned out really well, it was moist and had some interesting flavors in it - not just your basic carrot cake! I made a small 6inch layered cake for my mother-in-law and my mom got a set of 9 cupcakes. Toppings featured cream cheese frosting plus pecans and toasted coconut.

It was a while ago but I'm pretty sure this is the right recipe - it was basically one of the highest rated carrot cake recipes on AllRecipes.com, and it included interesting additions like buttermilk, coconut, pineapple, and walnuts. This makes delicious cupcakes also!

Sam's Famous Carrot Cake
As found on AllRecipes.com here


Ingredients

3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x12 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.

In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.

Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.

Pour into prepared 8x12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick.

Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.