Yesterday we celebrated my mom’s 87th birthday and I made one of her favorite meals, fried chicken and creamy white gravy, corn on the cob and fresh asparagus. For a week I kept asking her what kind of a cake she would like for me to bake but she just couldn’t decide. “You’ve eaten too many delicious cakes in 87 years it is hard to pick just one!” I told her.
I was going through recipes I have been meaning to try and finally settled on a state fair prize winner I have had tucked away for a few years. I tweaked it a little and it was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth wonderful.
Carrot Cranberry Cake
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
½ tsp allspice
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 cup sour cream or mayonnaise or combination of both
3 eggs
1 TBS vanilla
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
2 cups shredded carrots
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ dried cranberries
Favorite Butter Cream recipe
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 3 round cake pans by spraying with Pam and a light dusting of flour.
Mix flour, soda, powder, spices, and salt. Set aside. Beat sugar, sour cream or mayo, and eggs until fluffy. Add dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth. Mix in pineapple and carrots. Fold in nuts and cranberries. Pour into pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Place on wire racks to cool for 10-15 minutes. Take a sharp knife and loosen all around edge of pan. Invert on rack and cool completely. Place on cake plate, one layer at a time, frosting in between. May add a little pineapple juice to frosting for color and flavor. Can also be frosted with cream cheese frosting. Looks pretty garnished with sugared orange peel and cranberries.
Mmmm…must try this for my husband! He’ll love the cranberries–thanks!