Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my good friends loves carrot cake, so I decided to make this simple recipe for him. Fortunately, the cake recipe proved to be extremely easy and baked well. (Though the cake did rise quite a bit so that the top was slightly burnt.) Since my friend really loves cream cheese frosting, he demanded that I slice the cake into two separate layers so that he could have a better cake-to-frosting ratio. Surprisingly, I had plenty of frosting for my little cake - though the frosting was extremely runny (which was a bit of a surprise since I used less than a full quarter pound of cream cheese - perhaps it was due to the omission of the pecans.) The most difficult (and disastrous) step was attempting to frost the sides of the cake; my frosting did nothing up run down the sides and pool at the bottom. If I was making this cake again, I would either add an extra ½ c of powdered sugar to the frosting - or else merely frost the top of the cake and forget the sides completely.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
(yields a 7-8" round cake)

2 eggs
½ c. and 2 T. vegetable oil
1 c. white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1½ c. grated carrots
½ c. chopped pecans

For the frosting
¼ c. butter, softened
1/4 lb. cream cheese, softened
2 c. powered sugar
½ t. vanilla extract
½ c. chopped pecans (optional)

Beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Combine liquid and dry ingredients and stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into greased and floured pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. For the frosting, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans.