Easter Eggs and The Best Ever Carrot Cake

It's been a long time since I spent an entire day in the kitchen.  We hosted Easter this year, and spending an entire day in this kitchen was not exactly a hardship.  It was a great day of cooking with my Mom, my husband and my brother... without running out of counter space or bumping into each other.  I think I'd be happy to spend many days like that in  the kitchen.

Priority one was coffee.  Then the colouring of the eggs for Easter breakfast.

Next up, French Bread and Spinach Dip.  We'd need plenty of snacks to get us through our cooking marathon.

Crusty French Bread and the BEST Spinach Dip

This year's choice for Easter Dinner - Stuffed Pork Loins.  Recipes here and here.  I also give you two great video clips to illustrate exactly how to cut, stuff, roll, and tie up your pork loins.  This guy demonstrates it very well.

Of course, there were veggies, potatoes and gravy to prepare.  Plenty of snacks.  And wonderful family time.

My favourite part?  Dessert.  The star of the show for me was this Carrot Cake.  It was amazing.  Seriously, this was the best carrot cake I've ever made.  I slightly adapted this recipe by Trish at Mom on Time Out:

Best Carrot Cake Ever

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

2 cups sugar

3 eggs, whisked

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups grated carrots (mine were heaping, so likely closer to 2 1/2 cups)

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup crushed pineapple in juice (not drained)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine vegetable oil, yogurt, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients, then add in carrots, coconut, and pineapple.

Pour into a greased bundt pan or a 9 x 13 pan.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 8oz package cream cheese (softened)

1 tsp vanilla

1 lb powdered sugar

Beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy.  Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.  Allow cake to cool before frosting.  And if you love cream cheese icing as much as I do, double the recipe.  Extra icing is a good thing.

To-Die-For Carrot cake at Mom on Time Out

   

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