mmm... Carrot Cake

Today is my boss's birthday. Last year I found the best carrot cake recipe, so I tried it again this year. Ellen and I slaved over a hot oven to create this masterpiece.

I've heard that you can melt Starburst candies to cut out shapes, but that didn't work so well. We unwrapped what felt like a million little candies and sorted them into colors. (This is where it's handy to have the three year old!) I started with orange, and it was pretty much a failure. I burned my finger trying to scrape the melted candy, so I just resorted to spelling his name in what can only be described as Pac-Man style lettering.

Here's the recipe for the best carrot cake and cream cheese frosting EVER!!

Cake:

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups grated carrots

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

3 2/3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a sheet pan.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugars, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

To make frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.