Mommy 'Til Midnight: Sweet Tooth Sunday-Easter Carrot Cake

I wanted to make this week's Sweet Tooth Sunday festive in celebration of Easter. For some reason, I think carrot cake when I think of Easter, so why not make it in the shape of a carrot!?

Here's how I did it, based on the recipe found here.

Easter Carrot Cake

2 1/4 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 c. canola oil

1/2 c. buttermilk

2/3 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. crushed pineapple, drained

1 lb. finely grated carrots

1 c. chopped pecans

1 c. raisins

2 pkgs of neufchatel cream cheese (16 oz)

1 stick of unsalted butter (4 oz), softened

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. orange extract

2 1/2 - 3 c. confectioner's sugar

Food coloring (red, yellow and green)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly coat two 8x8 square pans with oil. Set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg until well incorporated. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, 2 tsp of vanilla extract, and pineapple. Add the dry ingredients slowly and mix. Stir in carrots, raisins, and pecans.

Pour the batter into the 2 square pans and then bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cakes for 30 minutes and then remove them from their pans. Cool cakes completely before frosting.

While cakes are cooling, prepare frosting. In a stand mixer (or using a hand-held mixer), combine neufchatel cream cheese and the softened butter. Add 2 tsp. of vanilla extract and 1 tsp. of orange extract and blend until incorporated. Add the sugar gradually until it's sweet enough by taste.

Once the cakes have cooled, spread a thin layer of frosting just on the top of one of the cakes. Place the second cake on top of the first.

Cut the edges off of two opposite corners. Save scraps for later. Then, on an adjacent corner, make a straight cut to look like the top of a carrot.

Separate remaining frosting into two bowls, with about 3/4 of it in one bowl and the remaining 1/4 in another. Add yellow and red food coloring to the larger bowl of frosting (the ratio is 3 drops of yellow to 1 drop of red) until you get the desired color. In the smaller bowl, add green food coloring until you get the desired color.

Then spread the orange frosting on the main part of the cake. Arrange the remaining scraps to look like carrot stems and then spread the green frosting on top.