Carrot and Pineapple Cake

It's been a while since I last posted here. I was quite busy the last few days. Alright, I know we had 2 straight long weekends but we went to visit some friends last week. I made this cake over the weekend and I followed the recipe in Barefoot Contessa. I halved the ingredients though because this was a bit experimental and I'm not sure if it will turn out okay. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil because we ran out of veg oil at home. Click here for the original recipe. Below is my version.

Cake:
1 c granulated sugar
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1 c carrots, grated
1/4 c pineapple (canned), diced

Cream Cheese Frosting:
170 g cream cheese (I used 3/4 of a 200 g Philadelphia soft cheese)
1/2 c melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c confectioners sugar (icing sugar in the UK)

Preheat the oven to 170C. Place parchment paper on the bottom of two 8-inch round springform pans then butter the bottom and sides of the pan.

Mix the eggs, oil and sugar then beat them together until light yellow. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together (flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt) then add to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisins and walnuts with 1/2 tbsp flour to prevent from sticking together then add to the mixture. Fold in the carrots and pineapple and mix well.

Place the batter equally between the two pans and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the toothpick test comes out clean.

For the frosting, beat together cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth and it forms peaks.

Once the cakes have cooled completely, place the first layer flat side up then spread the frosting evenly. Place the second layer on top with the rounded side up. Spread the frosting evenly on top and on the sides of the cake. Decorate with the remaining walnut pieces.

Here's another version of my carrot cake, same recipe except that I added decorations on top because I gave this cake for my friend's birthday.

And another one, when I used Royal Icing sugar instead of just plain icing sugar thinking at that time that this would harden easily because I always end up with a runny frosting whenever I make carrot cakes. I've always followed the exact amount of ingredients and even used the electric hand mixer but would still end up with the same runny frosting. Although it can still be "repaired" by chilling the cake in the fridge, it would be be satisfying if you already have a spreadable frosting to begin with and not have that much mess when you ice the cake. After several tries, I later discovered that mixing the ingredients altogether (in one go) does the trick. Before, I would follow the instructions and beat the butter with the cream cheese first then later add the sugar. Anyway, this does it for me so I'm sticking to it.

And of course, the cupcake version. I just halved the ingredients which makes 12 cupcakes.The carrot toppers used were ready-made, I had to order them from Amazon as we don't have them here available from the local supermarket.