Carrot Cake

Chrissy Teigen is brutally honest, funny, and loves her food. I discovered that one of her favorite things is carrot cake, in which I feel as if she has tried all the recipes and all the carrot cakes the U.S. has to offer. So, needless to say, I trusted her opinion that the Southern Living carrot cake was by far the greatest recipe she has come across. With her recommendation in mind, it was off to the kitchen to try it out.

The only real adaptation I made to the original recipe is swapping out the regular flour for a gluten free blend. I also, not by choice, omitted the coconut because it was 11:00 pm when I was making this and realized I had no coconut. Instead, I added it to my frosting and layered the cake with it.

To say this was an incredibly moist, delicious cake would be an understatement. It was phenomenal. One big key to making the cake so moist is the fact that you put a little buttermilk glaze on the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.

(my mother in law froze the rest of it and even a few weeks later said it was equally as delicious and moist.)

For the love of all things amazing, keep the recipe as is and don’t mess with it!

Ingredients

Cake:
2 cups gluten free flour (Cup4Cup)
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot
1 (8-oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (3 ½-oz.) can flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Buttermilk Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup butter or margarine
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:
¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line 3 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.

2. Stir together first 4 ingredients.

3. Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrot and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

4. Make the glaze: Bring all ingredients to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Boil, stirring often, 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.

5. Make the frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth.

6. Remove cakes from the oven and drizzle buttermilk glaze evenly over layers; cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.