Back to School Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

This cake is our traditional first day of school dessert. Something about the carrots being a healthy start to the new year (smile). The kids love it!

The recipe comes from the book The Cake Doctor

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding

2/3 cup orange juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 lg. eggs

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup raisins (I don't add these)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (we don't add these either)

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, orange juice, oil, eggs, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape sides of bowl and increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more. The batter should be thick and well blended. Gently fold in carrots, raisins, and nuts with spatula. Divide batter among 2 prepared pans, smoothing the top. Bake until golden brown about 30 minutes. Cool completely and frost with Cream Cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (8Tbsp) butter, at room temperature

3 cups confectioners' sugar

2 Tbsp orange juice

1 Tbsp orange zest

Combine cream cheese and butter in mixer until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar, a bit at a time, until well combined. Add orange juice and zest to the mixture. Beat until frosting lightens and is fluffy. (Sometimes I need to add a little more confectioners' sugar if the frosting is too thin. It is a little thin for me in the picture above, and it was hard to keep the frosting on the sides of the cake.)