One Layer Carrot Cake

A small cake, delicious as an afternoon snack or a light dessert!

Cake

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 cup flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1½ tsp cinnamon

• 1½ cups grated carrots (about 2 carrots)

• ⅓ cup chopped dried apricots

• ⅓ cup chopped pecans

• Zest of a small orange

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line the bottom of a 9in circular cake pan with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Mix in flour, and next four ingredients until just moistened.

3. Fold in carrots, then fold in the dried apricots, pecans, and orange zest.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before turning out of the pan to cool completely.

Frosting

• ¼ cup softened butter

• 4 oz softened cream cheese

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese.

2. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.

Assembly

1. Once cake has cooled top with the frosting! Add colorful sprinkles on top for a festive touch.

2. Serve and Enjoy!

Carrot cake is one of my all time favorite cakes! You can rest assured that I will be posting more variations at some point. I made this one for mothers day while visiting a close friend. My mom doesn't actually like carrot cake very much so we celebrated mothers day early and had Belgian waffles, but I was thrilled by the chance to make carrot cake for someone who loves it! I was visiting close family friends, so her mom is also like a mother to me. The cake was a big hit, but we were all rather full from eating some chocolate banana bread we'd made earlier in the day. It was just a mothers day baking extravaganza!

The cake looked so cute with the sprinkles on top I just had to sneak back into the kitchen for a late night picture. (The string lights and the deep blue mixer just looked so fun they also made it into the picture.)

We actually made two of these one layer cakes, so doubling the recipe to get twice the cake works just fine. The second cake was meant to be topped with a vegan, cashew based frosting but we didn't have a blender powerful enough so it turned out rather lumpy... So if you're wondering, the cake tastes just fine on its own too!

I hope you love this cake just as much as I do! Happy Baking!