Carrot Cake

There's this carrot cake that I make once or twice a year and it's good, really good. I said to Kyle the other day in a moment of complete openness, "Everyday when I'm having a stressful moment I look forward to the piece of carrot cake I'm going to have that evening and every evening as soon as I finish eating it I can't wait until the next day so that I can eat a piece again"

Now if that's not good cake I don't know what is. Normally I would never expect to get all crazy about carrot cake, but really it's the best cake I've ever eaten. And normally I would never make a cake from scratch but trust me it's easy and it's worth it, the box one does not even begin to come close. So if you could use a really good piece of cake to help you through a hard day (such healthy copping, I know) here you go:

From Cooking Light
Cake:
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut
1/3 c. chopped pecans
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp. canola oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 c. grated carrots
1 1/2 c. canned crushed pineapple, drained
Cooking Spray

Frosting:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) block 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Combine oil and eggs; stir well. Stir egg mixture, 2 c. carrots, and pineapple into flour mixture. Spoon batter into a 13x9* in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 35 min. or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
3. To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer a medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Spread frosting over top of cake.

Yield 16 servings (serving size 1 piece). Calories 322, Fat 10.4g

*This last time I made it in a bundt pan instead of the 13x9 and just added 10 min. of cooking time, I then cut the frosting recipe in half since it was less surface area, it was still delicious!