Recipes: Tropical Carrot Cake

• Prep Time:15 minutes
• Cook Time:45 minutes

 

Tagged:
cake, carrot, cream cheese, dessert, easter, macadamia nuts, pineapple, spring, tropical,

Tropical Carrot Cake plays off the best part of a carrot cake and takes the carrots into the sweet end of the food spectrum. Combine them with pineapple and macadamia nuts for a truly unusual cake that, well, takes the cake!

This recipe is part of our Carrots: A Hot New Trend That's SPRINGING Up series. Check out all the great Food Channel original recipes at this link.

 

Foodie Byte

Candied Carrots - shave carrots with vegetable peeler, boil simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) for 30 minutes or until translucent, cool and sprinkle or toss in sugar to coat. Will hold in an airtight container 2 weeks.

Ingredients

3 cups of grated carrot
1 cup of chopped macadamia nuts
1 ¼ cup of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of salt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of ginger
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 cups sugar
Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 8oz. packs of cream cheese
4 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pineapple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9” round cake pans.
Finely grate 3 cups worth of carrots and set aside
Chop 1 cup macadamia nuts and set aside
In a mixing bowl, combine vegetable oil, eggs, ginger and sugar, mix until well integrated.
Combine flour, salt and baking powder, and add to the mixing bowl.
Add grated carrots 1 cup at a time, mixing between each cup.
Add macadamia nuts and mix until well integrated.
Once well mixed, pour batter evenly between the two cake pans, each should be approximately half full.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.
Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a mixing bowl, soften the cream cheese and slowly add in powdered sugar.
Continue adding powdered sugar and mix on high until it is light and peaks.
Add pineapple extract and vanilla extract. Mix for an additional two minutes.
Refrigerate covered until cake is ready to frost. Top with Candied Carrots.

source FoodChannel http://ift.tt/1ZtBnJm