Easter Eggs & Carrot Cake

Today is Easter for me. At my home we usually color the eggs traditionally, but this year I decided to do it a little different (to see how we color the eggs in Serbia, visit Medena’s blog, she wrote step-by-step instructions). As for the cake, after seeing Peabody’s, I couldn’t resist making Dorie’s Carrot Cake.

Bill’s Big Carrot Cake
from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots)
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
1/2 cup moist, plump golden raisins
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs

Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake in a preheated oven on 325°F for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.