Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Per the fam's request, here is the recipe for the carrot cake we enjoyed for our Easter Feast! Recipe is found in Caprial's Desserts cookbook.

Carrot Cake:
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
4 cups finely shredded carrots
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cups finely chopped pecans
3/4 cups shredded sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper; set aside.

Place the sugar and vegetable oil in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until smooth and light, about 4 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Add the shredded carrots and mix well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and mix until smooth. Add the pecans and coconut, and mix well. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake until the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans and let cool completely.

Split the cake layers, then fill and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe to follow).

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Place the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on low speed just to combine the ingredients, then beat on high speed, occasionally stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides of the bowl, until very light, fluffy and smooth, about 7 minutes.