Sweeten Your Easter With This Yummy Carrot Cake

While it’s still way too early in the season to use the carrots planted in your garden, carrot cake is often a staple of the Easter dessert table. The dessert emphasizes the holiday's rabbit theme and gives us all a reason to consume the creatures’ favorite food.

The kids will likely be busy indulging in some of those delicious chocolates from their baskets, so here’s a treat for the adults (but it’s not like me to stop any kids from having a slice — they’ll be getting in their veggies without even knowing it).

Why You’ll Love It

This cake has been a staple at our family Easters for years, and the recipe is straight out of my mother’s recipe book. While most carrot cakes call for raisins, this one adds some crushed pineapple for a twist, giving it even more of a bright, fresh spring flavor than your typical recipe.

The icing is a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting — the best kind, in my opinion. Mild spring temperatures won't melt the icing, so feel free to enjoy this dessert outdoors if you're lucky enough to have a sunny Easter Sunday.

Here’s a tip: Although it’s a bit more work, shred the carrots yourself. The texture comes out much better this way as opposed to using pre-shredded carrots from the supermarket, which can be too long and stringy. Alternatively, you can dice the carrots or use a food processor to chop them into small pieces.

Ingredients

For The Cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cup oil
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups peeled and diced or shredded carrots (this can be done in a food processor)
• 1 ½ cup crushed pineapple from can
• 1 cup crushed walnuts

For The Icing:

• 1 stick softened butter
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• ¼ cup crushed pineapple
• ¼ cup crushed walnuts
• 1 ½ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare a bundt pan or a 13 inch by 9 inch pan with cooking spray. Then coat the pan with a dusting of flour.
3. Sift flour and baking soda into a big bowl.
4. Add all other cake ingredients into the bowl with the flour and baking soda. Mix well.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for one hour.
6. Let the cake cool completely before icing.

For the Icing

1. Add the butter, cream cheese, crushed pineapple, walnuts and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix, or use a hand mixer to incorporate. Alternatively, you can save the walnuts to sprinkle on top of the icing.
2. Spread icing over the top of the cooled cake.

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Nicole Bonaccorso is a senior content writer at weather.com. Based out of New Jersey, she joined the team in 2013.