Carrot Patch Cake

What a great weekend.  We headed to LA on Saturday for the Oh Joy for The Land of Nod launch party (which was a blast) and then on to San Diego to spend the rest of the weekend with my brother and his family.

Easter will be here in no time.  This cake is a must every Spring for our family.  This is my mother in laws amazing carrot cake recipe.  It's super moist and packed with yummy stuff like coconut, pineapple and pecans.  It can simply be baked in a 9X13" pan, it makes great cupcakes, or make a tall 3 layered version like this one.  I wanted to do something fun to decorate this cake, so I decided to use my carrot sugar cookies to make a little carrot patch.

Carrot Cake
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated carrot
1 can crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix together well the first 3 ingredients.  Then add the remaining ingredients and mix for about 1 minute.  Prepare baking pans by coating with oil.  Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour for a 9x13, a little less for 8" rounds and about 25 mins for cupcakes.  Cake is done if inserted toothpick comes out clean and cake bounces back to touch.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz. package of cream cheese
1 cup butter (room temp.)
1 bag of icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
a little milk (if necessary)

Beat cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.  If the frosting is too stiff add 1 tsp. of milk at a time.

To make the "green grass", place 1 cup of shredded coconut in a large ziploc bag.  Add a couple drops of green food coloring and shake the bag until all the coconut to colored green.

I piped my carrot sugar cookies with colored buttercream.  I simply inserted a knife into the cake where I wanted the carrot cookies and then pushed the cookies in part way.

And I know you'll ask, the cake stand is from Minted.  And yes, it's gorgeous!!!!