My 50th Post!!!!! - Carrot Cake for Celebration!!!

I am super-duper excited today... as this is my 50th post!!! I never thought that I would reach this point given all the work load that I have to deal with on a daily basis. The biggest reason behind this achievement is all the encouragement that I get from reading your comments... I learned a lot in these few months from a lot of my fellow bloggers... thank you so much for stopping by a leaving your encouraging comments. I truly appreciate it!!!

I initially started this blog just to get away from my routine life... but as time passed by this became my passion... every time I cook something I would ask my hubby AG like 100 times as to how it is and if he thinks my viewers/friends would like it or not... He had been very supportive throughout our lives together - be it a CPA exam or a food blog :). I am so grateful to Allah (SWT) for giving such a good hubby!!

I am celebrating this occasion with a Carrot Cake recipe. This is my first cake ever, and as you can see, I am not so good at decorating it. I made this cake for my niece's birthday. You can find out more about her here. While decorating the cake, I never realized that the word “Birthday” is this long. I don’t know how the bakers do it… what I know right now is that decorating a cake is not my cup of tea… :)

Ingredients:
For Cake
1. Eight medium carrots – grated
2. One and a half sticks unsalted butter – softened
3. Half a cup corn oil
4. One cup sugar
5. Four eggs
6. A pinch of salt
7. Half a cup raisins
8. Half a cup chopped walnuts
9. Half a cup shredded coconut
10. Two tsp cinnamon powder
11. One tsp vanilla extract
12. Half tsp baking powder
13. Half tsp baking soda
14. Two cups all purpose flour

For Frosting

1. 16oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese - softened
2. One cup confectioners’ sugar
3. Half stick unsalted butter – softened
4. Half tsp vanilla extract

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x13 inch pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, butter, flour and sugar.
3. Mix in baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and cinnamon powder.
4. Fold in carrots, walnuts, raisins and shredded coconut.
5. Pour into the two prepped pans (step 1).
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Let it cool in a pan for 10 minutes. Then turnout on a wired rack and cool completely.
8. In the meanwhile, prepare the frosting by beating all the ingredients in a medium bowl.
9. Once cool, place one of the cake on a stand. Spread the frosting and carefully place the second cake on top of it.
10. Carefully spread the frosting on the entire cake and decorate as you wish or leave it the way it.
11. Refrigerate it for about 15-20 minutes before serving.

NOTE: If you have better idea or way to decorate it please do so, as I said earlier this is not my cup of tea.

ENJOY!!!!