Canada's Best Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour

2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder

2 tsp (10 mL) cinnamon

1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda

3/4 tsp (4 mL) salt

1/2 tsp (2 mL) nutmeg

3/4 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar

3/4 cup (175 mL) packed brown sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup (175 mL) vegetable oil

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

2 cups (500 mL) grated carrots

1 cup (250 mL) drained crushed canned pineapple

1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped pecans

Icing:

1 8 oz (250g) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup (60 mL) butter, softened

1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla

1 cup (250 mL) icing sugar (aka confectioners sugar and powdered sugar)

Preparation

Grease and flour 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan; (or 2 round pans) set aside.

In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. In separate bowl, beat together granulated and brown sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla until smooth; pour over flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Stir in carrots, pineapple and pecans. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven for 40 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack. (Make-ahead: Cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 2 days. Or ovenwrap with heavy duty foil and freeze for up to 2 weeks; let thaw before continuing.)

Icing: In bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Beat in icing sugar, one-third at a time, until smooth. Spread over top of cake. (Make-ahead: Cover loosely and refrigerate for up to I day.)

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Ingredients:

for the Pancakes:

4 cups all-purpose flour

8 tsps baking powder

2 tsp. salt

4 cups milk

4 tbsps vegetable oil

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

for the Cinnamon Filling

1 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp ground cinnamon

for the Cream Cheese Glaze

1/2 cup butter

4 oz. cream cheese

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

To make the Cinnamon Filling:

Mix the three ingredients together. Place in a disposable piping bag and snip the end off or put in a Ziploc bag and snip the corner off.

To make the Pancakes:

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Stir them together until everything is moistened leaving a few lumps.

Heat your griddle to exactly 325 degrees. You don't want these too cook too quickly, and you won't want your cinnamon to burn.

Make desired size pancake on greased griddle and then using the piping bag and starting at the center of the pancake, create a cinnamon swirl. Wait until the pancake has lots of bubble before you try to turn it. You will find that when you turn it the cinnamon swirl will melt. The cinnamon will melt out and create the craters which the cream cheese glaze will fill.

To make the Cream Cheese Glaze:

In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter and cream cheese and then stir together. Whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add a little milk if needed to make

it a glaze consistency.

Place pancake on plate, then cover with cream cheese glaze.