Sally’s Carrot Cake

Update: The cake was a hit! People tried to come back for another piece, but it went very quickly.

As I have stated in the past, a simple truth, my mother does not cook. For some reason my mother’s name was put on the list of cooks/bakers for “funeral food” at our church. It must have been a joke on the “Funeral Food Ladies” or maybe on my mother, but they called her anyway! They needed her to make a cake of all things for a funeral today. My father took the call and listened as one of the ladies laughed her way through asking if my mother would make a cake. (It is not a secret to anyone that she can't cook which was the reason for the laughter.) My father said yes knowing that I would end up baking the thing. Of course I do not mind this; it is one of the things I can do and I don’t really know why I can. There were only, let’s see, 2 times in my life that I ever saw my mother bake anything. With her exhaustive list of recipes and culinary expertise, she decided to bake for the first time in the 1980’s when my Dad got a video camera. My Mom thought she had a cooking show at Christmas and made burnt cookies. She was more interested in putting on a “show” for the camera than actually baking a quality product. The second time was about 10 years later after we got over the first cooking experience and she made a bizarre low-fat, green key lime pie. It was interesting, no cameras that day and lucky for us the recipe yielded 2 pies! If one was not enough we had a second one to enjoy. I do remember calling my friends to come over and watch my mother cook. I think I should have sold tickets and made a little cash off her “cooking extravaganza.”
Now, on with today’s recipe. Baking for “something” is always a lot of self –induced pressure. I wanted to try a new recipe of course, but I wanted it to taste good. A Baking Redhead reader named Sally, who owns her own café and catering establishment, sent me this recipe. I do love Carrot Cake. Hmmmm. This recipe is loaded with so many goodies that I knew it had to be good. The unfortunate thing was I could not cut the cake and try a piece since I had to take it somewhere. However, there were some bits in the pan that I did get to sample and I decided I would have to make it again so I could cut a proper slice. It is a very moist cake with a lot of textures. To me it was like a carrot-pineapple salad, in cake form, with a hint of cinnamon and topped with cream cheese frosting. I know this does not do it justice so you must try it yourself. A half of a pound of carrots was enough for 2 cups and make sure your pans are well greased. I had to administer a little first-aid to one of my layers.
Thanks Sally!

Sally’s Carrot Cake
2 C sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c finely shredded pared carrots
1-8 ½ oz. can crushed pineapple
1-3 ½ oz. can flaked coconut
2 cup sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 ½ c salad oil
4 eggs

Sift together first dry ingredients then add sugar, oil and eggs. Beat at medium speed one minute. Stir in carrots, walnuts, pineapple, and coconut. Turn into 3 greased and floured 9” round cake pans. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling. Fill and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup butter
1-8 oz package cream cheese (softened)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar.

Mix all ingredients in order given. Fill and frost completely cooled cake. I double the recipe, as we like more frosting.

Here is a picture of one of the layers to show the different textures.