My favorite Spring dessert is, was, and always will be carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Versatile and completely acceptable for breakfast, brunch or dessert. The cake that stands its own no matter the time of day. And it includes one of my favorite ingredients ever: carrots! Just as my daughters.

Ingredients:

3 cups grated carrots (this was about 6 carrots for me)
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 heaping teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon clove
1 cup canola oil
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Grate your carrots with a box grater or food processor. Place in bowl and put to the side. They join the party in a moment.
3. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
5. With the oil and sugars, whisk in the eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream.
6. To the wet, start folding in the dry/flour mixture.
7. Once batter comes together, pour into two lined loaf pan. Cake or cupcake pans are great too. Also, Bundt pans!
8. Bake for about 30 minutes (rotate after 15) and test with toothpick. Rotate one more time and bake again for about 10 minutes. Note: bake times may vary based on the pan used.

Tips/Notes

1. If you don’t have cinnamon, nutmeg or clove, a great sub is 2 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice.
2. Don’t have sour cream? Greek yogurt works.
3. If you don’t have canola oil, you can also use vegetable oil.

Carrot Cake Must-Haves

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