Carrot Cake with Pineapples & Cream Cheese Frosting (Pastel de Zanahoria)
This is by far the best carrot cake — it is perfectly spiced, moist, and delicious topped with homemade cream cheese frosting. The cake gets extra sweetness from the addition of crushed pineapple to the batter.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, egg white, sugar, and oil.
In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and beat all together.
Add carrots, pineapple, and pecans, if using, and mix again. Pour into prepared pans.
Place both pans on the same oven rack and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and place pans on wire racks. Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from pans. Allow cake layers to cool completely on wire racks before frosting.
Make cream cheese frosting:
In a large mixing bowl cream together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.
Gradually beat in confectioner’s sugar. Add milk to desired consistency. Don’t make it too thin or it will slide off the cake.
Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with crushed pecans if desired.
Notes
I may be partial, but my Mom's carrot cake recipe is simply the best just the way it is! That said, there are plenty of ways for you to customize this tasty treat to your liking. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Try using different-sized tins - opt for a half-sheet cake or a bundt cake instead!
Turn it into cupcakes - if you're going to a potluck or party, cut down on dishes and serve up carrot cake cupcakes instead! The recipe as written will make around 2 dozen.
Add flair - we love to add crushed pecans to our pineapple carrot cake, but I know that some people love raisins or shredded coconut in theirs. Just make sure to keep the add-ins to about 1 1/2 cups or less.
Make it taller - create 3 to 4 layers by doubling the cake batter recipe, or, if you have amazing knife skills -- slice each round cake in half horizontally. You may want to double the frosting to make sure you have enough creamy goodness for each layer.
Add some decorations - While this delicious layered carrot cake is beautiful with just a basic application of frosting (with a few swoops using the back of your spoon!), we went all out and took a page from the Southern specialty known as Hummingbird Cake and adorned this with some pineapple flowers and rainbow carrot rosettes.