To-Die-For Carrot Cake

• Vegetarian

• Produce

  • 2 cups Carrots
  • 1 cup Dole pineapple

• Refrigerated

  • 3 Eggs

• Canned Goods

  • 1 1/4 cups Applesauce, unsweetened

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1 lb Powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 2 tsp Vanilla

• Nuts & Seeds

  • 1 cup Coconut
  • 1 cup Nuts

• Dairy

  • 1/2 cup Butter
  • 8 oz Cream cheese

Found on momontimeout.com

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups unsweetened applesauce (or oil, this is what my Nana used)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup Dole crushed pineapple (not drained!) {use the pineapple in JUICE not syrup}
• ½ cup butter (softened)
• 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 lb powdered sugar

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine #1 ingredients. Add #2 ingredients. Stir in #3 ingredients.
• Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 13 or two 8 or 9-inch pans.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely!
• Beat the butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until nice and smooth. In the interest of full disclosure, I ALWAYS double this recipe. We love our cream cheese frosting and although I never use it all, its amazing on top of graham crackers. Thats how my Nana would serve it to us for snacks ;)
• Invert the cake onto a cake plate or stand.
• Apply a generous dollop of frosting and spread...
• Gently place the second cake on top and continue frosting.
• Sometimes if the cake is crumbly, Ill do a crumb coat. If Im in a hurry or dont think its going to be an issue, Ill skip this step.