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Carrot Cake with Praline Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

This is NOT your ordinary carrot cake....this one is truly special and over-the-top extraordinary.  It is not every day that top food bloggers make another food blogger recipe with RAVE reviews over the deliciousness of this cake.  This cake is first of all, delicious on it's own, but adding the extra layers of praline between each cake layer is literally mind-blowing.  This is not a beginner cake and requires skill and patience, but the results are ever so worth a special occasion!  Buon appetito la mia amici bella!  (Buon appetito my beautiful friends)!
Author: Roz

Ingredients

For The Cake

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 2 sticks butter softened
  • 1/2 cup vegetable/canola oil
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 1-1/3 cups drained crushed pineapple
  • 1 cup shredded coconut flakes
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 6 cups shredded carrots
  • Prepare praline filling and cream cheese frosting.

Praline Filling

  • 6 Tbsp. butter
  • 1-1/2 cups light brown sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. cornstarch

Cream Cheese Icing/Frosting (I double this amount)

  • 2 8- oz. packages cream cheese softened
  • 2 sticks of butter
  • 7 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 tsp. butter flavoring
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

For the cake

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare 3 9-inch round baking pans with butter/cooking spray and flour dusting.
  • In a small amount (about 1 cup) of water, cook the shredded carrots for about 15 minutes to tenderize.
  • Drain all of the water from the carrots.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg.
  • Mix well.
  • Add the softened butter, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, pineapple, coconut, pecans, and carrots.
  • Place equal amounts of cake batter into each of three prepared pans.
  • Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  • Place on baking racks to cool.

For The Praline Filling

  • In a heavy pan, melt the butter.
  • Add brown sugar and mix well.
  • Add cream, vanilla, and salt.
  • Mix well again.
  • Slowly add in the flour and cornstarch.
  • Vigorously blend well with a whipping utensil.
  • Use a small-holed strainer to remove any lumps of flour/cornstarch.
  • Pour the praline filling into a metal bowl.
  • Place in the freezer for a few hours to thicken or refrigerate overnight.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Blend all ingredients together.
  • Assembly of Cake
  • Gently remove cooled 3 cakes layers from pans.
  • Pour half of the praline filling onto 2 of the cake layers only.
  • Immediately place these in the freezer if the filling is too runny. This will thicken up the filling more quickly.
  • Remove chilled cake layers with praline filling from the freezer after several hours.
  • Spread thick layers of cream cheese frosting on top of the two cake layers with filling.
  • Place these two cake layers on top of each other and then place the final third cake layer without any praline filling on the top.
  • Frost the cake and decorate how you like.