EASY CARROT CAKE

I always get excited when Friend Jean tells me, "I have some books for you." The latest bag had three Amish cookbooks in it along with several joke books for my grandchildren. 

One of the cookbooks was Amish-Country Cookbook Volume III - Favorite recipes gathered by Das Dutchman Essenhaus. The recipes were edited by Bob and Sue Miller and Anita Sekora. The reason I was so excited to see this cookbook is because I also have Volume I and have several at least five recipes from it. (You can do a search in the search window below my profile for the cookbook and the post will come up for you.) Das Dutchman Essenhaus in MIddlebury, Indiana is on my bucket list. The restaurant there seats 600 diners and on a busy day serves 6000 meals. That just blows my mind.

And it just isn't a restaurant. There is a gift shop, a clothing store, craft store, book loft, and candy kitchen. They also have a handweaving operation, a silo observation tower, and outlet store, and a homemade noodle operation. The Essenhaus Country Inn was built to resemble an Amish farmhouse complete with windmill and pond. They have also renovated a nearby Amish home into Dawdy Haus Inn.

I made this Easy Carrot Cake to take to our Sunday school Christmas party Saturday night. If you read my blog often, you know the word "easy" in a recipe title will get me every time. This cake was easy but more than that it was so delicious and so moist. Since the recipe was considered easy, they used purchased cream cheese frosting, but I made my own using Neufchatel cheese. The recipe was shared by Sharon Boley, a waitress at the restaurant.

You could also use a zero sugar yellow cake mix to reduce the sugar.

Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.

EASY CARROT CAKE

1        yellow cake mix (I used one without pudding added)
1-1/4  cups Miracle Whip
4        eggs
1/4     cup cold water
2        teaspoons cinnamon
2        cups shredded carrots
1/2     cups chopped walnuts
extra walnuts to sprinkle on frosting if you like

Cream cheese frosting (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix, cake, Miracle Whip, eggs, water, and cinnamon. Stir with a wooden spoon til blended.

Stir in carrots and walnuts.

Spread in prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes.

Cool in pan on wire rack.

Frost with cream cheese frosting from a can or prepare cream cheese frosting below. 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1         8 - ounce package Neufchatel cheese at room temperature
2         cups powdered sugar, sifted
1         teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar til smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add vanilla;

mix well.

Spread over cooled cake.

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts if you like.