This cake is super moist and so easy to make! I can make this recipe and have a perfectly finished cake and a spotless kitchen in 90 minutes!! Feel free to substitute walnuts for pecans, either is excellent.

Cake Ingredients
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups grated carrots (see note 1)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

NOTE 1: I cheat and buy the baby carrots already peeled and just run them through the grater on my food processor. It takes about 3 minutes and it rinses clean in a snap!

Icing Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened (1.5 sticks)
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 cups confectioners sugar
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
1.5 cups chopped pecans or walnuts

Cake Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, prepare 2 8” round pans (grease and flour well).
2. In KA bowl, add eggs and mix slightly. Add sugar, oil, and vanilla, and mix.
3. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
4. Fold in carrots.
5. Fold in pecans.
6. Pour into prepared pans and bake approximately 55 minutes. (See note 2.)
7. Cool cakes completely before assembly/icing. (See note 3.)

NOTE 2: My ovens over the years have varied greatly on this baking time. Cakes are ready before they look ready – but not until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Watch them close the first time you try this. I’ve used ovens that baked this cake in 50 minutes and ovens where it took well over an hour.

NOTE 3: Flip pans upside down while catching cake – just to loosen the cake from the pan. Then sit the pans back down with the cakes still inside them. Leave the cakes in the pans for at least 10 minutes so they’ll hold their shape. After 10 minutes is up, flip cakes out and finish cooling on wire rack.

Icing Directions
1. In KA bowl, cream butter.
2. Add cream cheese, mix well.
3. Add confectioners sugar, mix well.
4. Add vanilla, mix well
5. Fold in chopped nuts.

Assembly Directions
1. Tort COMPLETELY COOLED cakes so you end up with 4 layers of 1” cake (or thereabouts).
2. Cover each layer generously with icing and stack. It’s nice if the icing oozes out the sides. :)
3. Cover the top with an illicit amount of icing.
4. Decorate with a few whole nuts.

If there are any leftovers, I refrigerate in a TRULY airtight container after the second day – and that ensures cake will stay fresh and moist. Putting any cake in a fridge will dehydrate the cake if it’s not in an airtight container.

This chocolate butter cream is absolutely lush and has a nice, rich brown color. It crusts well, so you can use the Viva method to smooth it. It also pipes beautifully. By far my favorite recipe for chocolate ABC when it comes to taste. Recipe doubles and triples well!

• 1 cup salted butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 6 to 8 ounces unsweetened, bittersweet, or semi-sweet chocolate (or any combination)
• 2 tablespoons clear Karo (corn syrup)
• 16 ounces powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
• 3 or 4 tablespoons milk (skim, light, full, or heavy whipping cream) (I often use 3 skim and 1 heavy cream)

Directions
1. Cream butter on high.
2. While butter is creaming, slowly melt chocolate. When it cools a bit, add corn syrup.
3. Add chocolate mixture to whipped butter; mix well.
4. Add milk and sugar, alternately, while mixing on medium speed, until all is added and mixed well.
5. Avoid mixing on high to prevent air bubbles.
6. Add heavy whipping cream if richer or fluffier (lighter consistency) icing is desired.

Sky blue food color will give you a darker brown, if necessary. Yellow and red (after a bit of blue) will also change hues from cooler to warmer shades of brown.

This icing is fantastic as a filling, as a “smooth” icing, and for piping.

Here’s a cake that was filled and decorated with this icing:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=227259250644882&set=a.347662088604597.71128.159912697379538&type=3&theater

Good luck!

Materials Needed:

• Cake drum (I always use ½” thick)
• 12” x 12” sheet scrapbook paper
• Roll of contact paper
• Scissors

STEP 1
Trim your craft paper to the size of your cake board. If you’re using a 12” inch square cake board and a 12” x 12” inch scrapbook sheet (like I’m using today), you don’t have to do any trimming! Awesome!

STEP 2
Cut your contact paper about 6 inches bigger than your cake board. 12” square board? Cut your square about 18 inches. Contact paper has pre-marked lines for easy measuring and cutting. You can just “eyeball” it on this step, you don’t have to be exact. Just make sure you have at least 2 or 3 inches on all 4 sides (otherwise you won’t have enough sticky paper to adequately adhere to the back of the cake board).

STEP 3
Peel the back off the contact paper and lay it on your work surface sticky side up. Be very careful you don’t wrinkle the paper as you’re pulling off the back and don’t allow any creases or folds, etc. You can’t always iron them away and wrinkles are totally forbidden! Unless they’re hidden under the cake later, of course. ;)

STEP 4
Make certain that your sticky paper and your pretty scrapbook paper are free of any lint, icing, or debris. Once you have confirmed that, carefully lay your craft paper “pattern side down” in the middle of the contact paper, so the pattern adheres to the sticky bit. Smooth it out nice. Turn it over and examine the covered paper. No debris, correct? There! Perfect!

(If you do see any debris, gently roll the contact paper back off of the scrapbook paper, taking care not to pull the pattern off the paper, and use tweezers to remove said debris.) Re-examine. There! Perfect!

STEP 5
Now lay the paper, pretty side down towards the work surface and sticky side up – and place your cake board on it (silver side down). Line up the cake board with the edge of the paper underneath. A little edge showing is fine, but only a little. You can just barely see my tiny yellow edge showing here along the bottom edge of my cake board (see the section highlighted in blue).

STEP 6
Cut out the 4 corners.

STEP 7
Using 2 hands, (ok, I had to use 1 of my hands to take the photo, but you should be using 2!) pull one of the edges of contact paper up and over the edge of the cake board, being careful to keep the edge of the colored paper lined up with the bottom edge of the cake board. Run your hand over the contact paper to adhere it to the cake board. I like to do opposite sides first, to keep the paper from moving “out of position.” Continue on with the three remaining sides, pulling TIGHTLY to avoid wrinkles and gaps, until all 4 edges are adhered to the cake board and perfectly smooth.

STEP 8
TA DA! Can you tell this board is covered with contact paper? If you’ve done it “right” – there are no wrinkles, no folds, no bends, no air bubbles, no lint or icing or grit between the pretty scrapbook paper and the contact paper, and it should be extremely difficult to tell the paper is covered with anything.

STEP 9
You’re almost finished except for the ribbon. (Before you finish, remember to always place your cake on its own “to size” cake board, NOT directly on this contact paper-covered board.) Once the cake is fully decorated, cover the silver ½” side of the cake board with colorful ½” inch ribbon (I use a thin line of hot glue which works PERFECT). Don’t skip this step, as it can really play up your design! See the cake below without ribbon and the one below that WITH with ribbon?

Note: Did you notice the awesome price tag on this baby? I only buy scrapbook paper when it goes on sale for 50% off (monthly, at Hobby Lobby), which means I paid a whopping 18¢ for this. Ok, no wait, you got me! 19¢ once you add in tax. When they go on sale, I go CRAZY and buy stacks and stacks of these in all colors, themes, and patterns. I do the same thing with the ½” ribbon. Later I can mix and match to coordinate with the design of the cake.

**If you want to cover a cake drum bigger than 12”, obviously you can’t use the 12” x 12” scrapbook paper sheets “as is,” but you can use more than one and cut them and piece them (if the design allows), and you can always use other papers or materials like gift wrap, shelf liner, fabric, etc., and the same steps will work.

Good luck! If you try this, I’d love to see your work! Please link me and share at one of the following:

Here at CakesDecor
Blog: www.peggydoescake.com
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