With the holidays approaching, indulgence is awaiting! Treat your family and friends to “The Best Darned Carrot Cake” they’ll ever have! Shout out to Sheryl for sharing her sweet secrets for her special birthday month!

bourgeois_sheryl-2Sheryl A. Bourgeois

Executive Vice President, University Advancement


 

The Best Darned Carrot Cake

1 box classic yellow cake mix (no pudding in the mix – Duncan Hines*)
1 small pkg (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
½ cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups shredded carrots (1 pkg pre-shredded from the store is great**)
2/3 cup raisins
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 recipe Vanilla Bean Dream Cream

Instructions


Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.  Place the cake mix, pudding mix, orange juice, oil, eggs and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop and scrape down.  Increase the speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping as needed.  Gently fold in carrots, raisins and nuts.  Divide batter between pans.

Bake cakes until they are golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 30 to 35 minutes.  Remove the pans from the oven, let cool.

After cakes cool for about an hour, frost with dream cream.

* If you buy a different brand of cake mix that says “pudding in the mix”, don’t add the entire box of pudding just add 2 tablespoons of the dry mixture.

** I love the shredded carrots from the store, but they need a little additional chopping before putting them into the batter.