Okay, let me begin with a confession.  I had no idea today was the unofficial holiday known as National Carrot Cake Day.  I am not sure if a die hard foodie would have known that.  I was informed via email of this momentous occasion and thought I would pass it along to you.  You never know when the question may pop up in a useless trivia game.  Since I am such a good sharer of information, I will pass along some of the yummy recipes from the email I received.  Carrot cake happens to be my husband’s favorite, so I might surprise him with one.  I am not wearing my super woman cape today, so the treat will definitely come from a box.  Thank you Betty Crocker!

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Lightly grease 2 muffin pans, or use paper liners.<,br>
In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, allspice and salt. Mix in brown sugar, white sugar and coconut. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, 1/2 cup buttermilk, carrots, pineapple, and vanilla. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add the egg/buttermilk mixture. Mix until batter is moistened. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly tapped. Allow to cool.

In a small bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 to 3 tablespoons buttermilk. Mix until smooth, then refrigerate until thickened. Drizzle over cooled muffins. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Remove butter and cream cheese from refrigerator and allow to warm up to room temperature 30 minutes in advance.

Wash, peel, and grate the carrots (it helps to use the fine grating disc of a food processor).Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in cinnamon (you don’t want to get the cinnamon in the sifter!).

Beat the eggs, add the sugar. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture gradually. Add oil and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute at medium speed of electric mixer.

Using a wooden spoon (or other large spoon) stir in the grated carrots, coconut, crushed pineapple and finally the walnuts. Mix well and turn out into a buttered and floured 9×13 inch pan.

Bake at 350 F for approximately 45 minutes or until cake is no longer moist in center and begins to pull away from edges of pan. (The toothpick test won’t work on this cake!)

To prepare frosting, beat cream cheese with butter and a few drops vanilla extract or rum. When completely mixed, beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the frosting is a spreadable consistency. Frost cake while still slightly warm.

Both recipes as well as many others can be found at the link below:

http://www.chefscatalog.com/?sourcecode=CW3EM7526