Carrot Cake Gluten Free and Regular

December 14th was my husband's 70th birthday.  My daughter had the family party.  She made lunch, and I made the cake.  I could have sworn I posted my Carrot Cake recipe before, but I couldn't find it so I wouldn't expect anyone who reads my blog to find it either.  I made two cakes.  The first was the one I have made for years.  It was my mother's recipe and is written on a piece of ripped paper in smeared red ink.  If I have posted this recipe before, I apologize.  I don't have a photo of the cake because I didn't take one, but everyone knows what a cake looks like.

Carrot Cake

1 scant cup of oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
7 ounces unsweetened coconut (scant cup)
1 8 3/4 oz. can crushed pineapple with the juice
2 t. vanilla
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix the oil and sugar.
Add the 3 eggs and beat well
Then add sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix.
Next with a spoon fold in remaining ingredients .

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with baking spray.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The second cake I made was also a Carrot Cake but it was Gluten Free.  I did take a photo of that one, for some reason.  I just followed the directions on a Gluten Free yellow cake mix and then added some of the ingredients I used in the regular cake.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free yellow cake mix
⅔ cup water ( I drained some crushed pineapple and used the pineapple juice instead of water)
½ cup softened butter
1 t. cinnamon
¼ t. nutmeg
2 t. gluten free vanilla (used my own made from vodka, which turned out great) 
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/01/make-your-own-vanilla.html
3 eggs
1 cup shredded carrots
⅓ cup crushed pineapple
⅓ cup unsweetened coconut
¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Mix together and bake at 350 in a 8 inch square pan sprayed with coconut cooking spray
Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely before you frost .

I put bigger pecans on top, but I should have finely ground them also.

I used the same basic Cream Cheese frosting used in many recipes.  Numbers in parenthesis are for the 9 x 13 cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz. (5 oz.) cream cheese ( I used the Neufchatel cream cheese because it is lower in calories and it was on sale)
6 (10) T. butter
2 (3) cups powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 (1 1/2) T. milk or as much needed to make a creamy frosting

Happy Birthday King Michael,  I hope it was a good one.