Easter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I used to have a bunny growing up and he never ate carrots. The carrot top greens, yes, but the actual orange carrot, never, I believe.

How the heck did carrots and bunnies become a pair?

....

I didn't totally free-load at my mother's Easter dinner last night. I told her a few days ago that I would bring a side dish but she steered me toward dessert since she had not made any. But since I've run myself down and got ill, I wasn't sure I was going to bring something.

But, yesterday morning, I made myself an espresso and got myself up from being miserable and thought about what I would bring.

Thinking outloud ...

Easter. What kind of dessert comes to mind with Easter.

Easter, Easter bunnies, carrots... CARROTS!!! Carrot Cake came to my mind.

(Yes, I know. I surprise you with how brilliantly my mind works. hehe.)

And that's what I made.

Incredibly moist with easy to make cream cheese icing. And, I actually like the walnuts in the cake! (I never used to be a fan of nuts in my desserts but my tastes are changing- It helps that I ground them up pretty small too).

Plus, I'm going to toot my own horn for coming up with the garnish idea. I think it turned out looking pretty good :)

Happy Easter Weekend!

...

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
makes one 9x13 inch cake or two 8 or 10 inch rounds

Carrot Cake:

4 large eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/4 cup vegetable oil
grated zest of an orange

4 large carrots, peeled and grated (approximately 3 cups of grated)

2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mace

1/2 cup raisins
1 cup of ground walnuts

Mix together eggs, sugar, oil and orange zest. Stir in the carrots. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and mace).

Fold into the above mixture.

Add raisins and walnuts. Mix until incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s) with parchment paper. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool onto racks for 20 minutes before removing.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1 pkg (250g) cream cheese
2-3 cups icing sugar
orange extract, optional

Beat together cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Frost cake when cool. Serve.

I peeled a carrot to add as garnish and sprinkled ground walnuts on top of the cake for decoration. Don't put the garnish on until almost before serving, as the peeled carrot will wilt.

Recipe adapted from: Carrot Cake, Williams-Sonoma Essentials to Baking.