BECKY'S OUTRAGEOUS 5 STAR CARROT CAKE!

Summer's officially over. Well, for me anyways, because Little Miss Things's gone and left the nest, flying away on her little fairy princess wings, once again. You'd think we'd be used to it--she IS a junior in college, after all, but for some reason Big Daddy and I get more and more weepy as the years go by! Oh sure, Abbie's happy as a clam--has her first cute little apartment, mere blocks from campus, and has a great part-time job lined up. No boyfriend this semester (yet, anyways), but she has 4 super cute and fun roomies to hang out with, and she's very excited about her classes this year. Oh well, at least we have "Facetime", the greatest invention known to man, on our I-phones! In fact, I just hung up with her, after she gave me a virtual tour of her apartment decorating efforts thus far...thank goodness for modern technology!

Before Abbie left, she requested, for her "last supper", her favorite fish tacos (I'll share the recipe in my next post) and our friend Becky Wendler's super awesome 5 Star Carrot Cake. Becky is a member of the club my husband manages--you might remember her name from my number one viewed post of all time, Becky's Enchiladas Suizas. Becky is an amazing mom and an amazing cook....I look forward to more recipes from her in the near future!

So of course for Carrot Cake you need to grate some carrots.....you'd think I'd use my grating attachment on my food processor for this task, but I wasn't into washing the whole contraption afterwards, so I just used my old fashioned grater.....gotta watch those knuckles!............

Spray and flour the bottom and sides of THREE cake pans (Becky uses parchment, but I was out, and the flour technique worked just fine). Sift together baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl.............

In your mixer, beat eggs and sugar at medium speed for 3 minutes, or until thickened and light in color. Check out these action shots!.................

Beat in oil at low speed. Stir in flour/cinnamon mixture until blended............

Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut and 1 cup walnuts until blended.....

Divide batter evenly among 3 pans and bake for 25 minutes...turn pans in oven and bake additional 10 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes--invert and let cool completely on racks............

For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl on medium speed for 3 minutes....beat in vanilla......

Add powdered sugar; beat at low speed for 1 minute or until smooth. Frost in between layers (about 1 cup in between each)..............

Spread top and sides with a thin layer of frosting. Coat again with a smooth layer. Press chopped pecans onto sides of cake (I got a little funky and put mine on top this time)..............

This makes a HUGE HUGE cake, enough for a large crowd. You won't believe how moist this cake is, either--must be the pineapple in the recipe. In the end, we each ate a slice, and then I sent the rest over to my neighbor's house, because they always have a buncha teenagers around who will eat anything..............

So absolutely moist and delicious....definetely worth the work! Enjoy!.....

Here's the recipe.....

BECKY'S OUTRAGEOUS 5 STAR CARROT CAKE

3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. plus 1 tsp. cinnamon
6 eggs
2 and 1 / 2 cup sugar
1 and 1 / 2 cup canola oil
2 and 1 / 2 cup finely grated carrots (about 6)
2 8oz. cans crushed pineapple in juice, well drained
1 cp shredded coconut
1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1 and 1 / 2 cup finely chopped walnuts.

Evenly space racks in oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of 3 baking pans and line bottom with parchment paper; spray parchment. Sift flour, soda, salt and cinnamon into medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar at medium speed for 3 minutes, or until thickened and light in color. Beat in oil at low speed. Stir in flour mixture until blended. Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut and 1 cup walnuts until blended. Divide batter evenly among 3 pans and bake for 25 minutes. Turn pans and bake an additional 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, and cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes; invert and remove parchment and cool completely. For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl on medium speed for 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar; beat at low speed for 1 minute or until smooth. Place 1 layer on serving plate; spread 1 cup frosting. Repeat. Top with remaining layer. Spread top and sides with a thin layer of frosting. Press chopped walnuts onto sides of cake. Make cake up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate, or up to 3 weeks ahead of time and freeze.

TODAY I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR.....

**Safe airplane travel

**My in-laws, Al and Marilyn, who do so much for our daughter, including lining up a new mattress, new bookshelf and table, AND for the shopping spree at Target! We couldn't do this cross-country college thing without you two!

**Cream cheese frosting. It makes my whirled go round!!!