Pistachio-Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

 Yes! There is a lot going on here! and it's amazing! This cake is LOADED with all kinds of flavors and textures and somehow it all works! I wanted to enhance the traditional carrot cake recipe I had so I added some tropical ingredients like pineapple and coconut and then substituted pistachios for walnuts. I actually bought salted pistachios by mistake but it ended up working really well! I then added maple syrup and a little bit of cinnamon to my cream cheese frosting recipe!


I have been waiting all year to make a carrot cake from scratch. Carrot cake is my Dad's favorite so last month I had the opportunity to make this for his birthday. I wish I was able to snap a photo of a slice of this cake because then you would be able to see the the beautiful three layers but unfortunately we did't get around to cutting this until 8:00pm and the natural light was long gone by then, and so was the cake.


Pistachio-Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
recipe by Sabrina W. for eat.drink.and be merry.
serves 8 to 10
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup crushed pineapple with juices
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pistachios(use an additional 1/2 cup whole pistachios for garnish)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Grease three 8-inch cake pans with butter and then flour them.


Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and set aside.


In a separate larger bowl, beat the butter with sugars until fluffy and then add the eggs in one at a time. Add in the 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat well. Add in the buttermilk and beat well scrapping down the sides of the pan. Add in the remaining flour mixture and beat until well blended. (try not to overbeat) 


Stir in the crushed pineapple, carrots, coconut, and pistachios. Divide evenly among the 3 baking pans and bake for about 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure cake is cooked through.Set aside and cool completely before frosting. I usually make the cakes a day ahead and freeze them so they are easier to frost.


Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup maple syrup


Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add in the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup. Beat until well blended.


For the garnish: I pulse 1/4 cup of pistachios in a food processor and used them to dust the sides and top of the cake. I used an additional 1/4 cup of whole pistachios to make a border along the bottom of the cake.