Damn Delicious: My One and Only Carrot Cake Recipe from Grossy Pelosi

For today’s post (my fourth in a row! Look at me!), I’m interrupting my recent diatribes about writing to actually write about something important: carrot cake!

Carrot cake is a crowd favorite, but it’s historically a pain in my ass because I don’t like to grate carrots. I inevitably get too close to the grater and cut my finger. It’s a thing. So, when I came across Grossy Pelosi’s recipe for Carrot Cake that uses baby food for the carrots I was intrigued if a little grossed out. My lazy baker tendencies won and I tried the recipe and, wowza, it’s a keeper. I’ll never make another. You dump everything in one bowl and keep your life moving forward and that just makes me so happy. Plus, when I say the crowd goes wild for these things? Holy crap. Whoever enjoys these will be losing their minds over how delicious they are. It’s the best feeling in the entire world as a baker to watch and cackle over people who love your food. It gives people-pleasers like me such satisfaction!

I’m reposting the recipe below because I’ve made a few substitutions that make it perfect for me, but definitely check out the full recipe on Dan’s website for step-by-step photos and additional subs!

Ingredients:

For Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsweetened or sweetened coconut (I prefer unsweet but sometimes it’s hard to find. Use what you can get!)
• One 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, strained and given a whirl in food processor. I prefer my carrot cake without fruit clumps in it. If you like fruit clumps, you don’t need to strain!
• Two 4 ounce jars of carrot baby food puree
• 2 cups walnuts (optional). I like my cake nutty! Use less if you want a lighter touch or none at all if you are a nut hater or have allergies.

For Frosting:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan or line muffin tin. I prefer muffins for quick breads because I like crunchy edges.
2. Dump all cake ingredients in a bow and mix. So easy.
3. Pour into pan or muffin tin and cook until golden brown or toothpick comes out clean, about twenty minutes for muffins and about an hour for cakes depending on your oven.
4. Once cake is fully cooled, frost.
5. For frosting, mix ingredients together in stand mixer or using your arm power until light and fluffy.

Yield: about 24 muffins

These cupcakes taste best after some time in the fridge. They are SOOOO good. Thank you Dan and Dan’s mom for blessing us with this recipe. Thus far, I have given cupcakes to my niece, given some to my boss for her birthday and brought them to a dinner party. The yield is high and they are so incredibly easy. Enjoy!