Potluck Carrot Cake with White Chocolate Frosting
This is an easy serve-from-the-pan carrot cake frosted with a white chocolate sweetened cream cheese frosting.
Servings 16
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 9.8 oz
- ¾ teaspoon of kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup canola oil or any neutral vegetable oil
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups shredded carrots, shred then chop (12 oz)
- ⅔ cup flaked coconut regular sweetened type is fine
- 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup finely chopped and toasted walnuts or pecans
- ½ cup raisins
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 6 ounces white chocolate baking bar chopped
- 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened and at room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened, cut into chunks
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or 1 teaspoon of vanilla or 2 teaspoons lemon juice plus ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan or just use a 9x13 inch foil pan if making for a potluck.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder cinnamon and salt.
- In a second mixing bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until mixed. Stir in the carrots, coconut, pineapple (if using), nuts and raisins.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until cake appears set. It will most likely have a flat (as opposed to domed) top. Let the cake cool completely, then frost with cream cheese frosting.
- To make the frosting, melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Allow it to cool to room temperature. Alternatively, you can melt it in the microwave using 50% power and stirring every 30 seconds.
- With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Gradually stir the melted white chocolate into the cream cheese. With the mixer going, add soft butter 1 chunk at a time, beating and scraping bowl. Beat in the lemon juice.
- Spread the frosting over the top of the cake. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
This cake freezes very well, so I usually bake it ahead of time, cool, wrap tightly and freeze. You can frost the cake before your freeze it, or freeze the cake and frost on the day you plan to serve it. At times I've used ¾ cup oil and ½ cup applesauce in place of the 1 cup oil, but the cake gets more compliments when made with the 1 cup oil. In addition, I've tried using a mixture of brown and granulated sugar. It looks good on paper, but in reality the 2 cups of white sugar is just as good since the cake gets so much flavor from the cinnamon, vanilla and other add-ins.