Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I don't have much to say about this recipe other than I have VERY high standards for carrot cake and this one is among the best I've tasted. I like my carrot cake dense, moist and smothered with cream cheese frosting. In my opinion, carrot cake tastes best served chilled. I made this cake a few weeks ago for Jory's birthday and enjoyed it with every single meal that birthday weekend, whoops. There's nothing better than a cold piece of carrot cake with a hot cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. YUM!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten well
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained well
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Directions
Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and ground cinnamon and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, pineapple, carrots, coconut flakes and walnuts.

Pout into two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. I grease each pan then put parchment paper rounds in the bottom of each. Pour half of the batter into each pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes cleanly out of the center of the cake. Carefully remove the parchment paper from the bottoms of each cake layer, let cool and top with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
3 tablespoons butter at room temperature
2 tablespoons of milk (if needed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients together, adjusting ingredient amounts until desired consistency is achieved.

This recipe is originally titled Julie Treacy's Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake, passed along by my amazing friend and baker, Kelsey Bulat.