Carrot Cake w/ Orange Frosting

So not much going on for Easter this year, and seeing that my extended family isn't doing anything we are having a quiet ham dinner at home. Ham w/ a pineapple glaze, roasted red potatoes in herbs, garden salad and this lovely cake for dessert. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to keep my hands off it. Hopefully my patience will be rewarded later this evening.

INGREDIENTS:

From 1 Mix, 100 Cakes

oil or melted butter for greasing

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

generous 3/4 cup light brown sugar

3 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp. orange juice

scant 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated carrots

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup whole-fat cream cheese

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

finely grated rind of 1 orange

1 tbsp. orange juice plus extra if needed.

1) Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease and line a 9 in. round, deep cake pan.

2) Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger into a bowl and add the butter, sugar, and eggs. Beat well until smooth, then stir in the orange juice and carrots.

3) Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and spread the top level. Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 10 minutes, or until well risen, firm and golden brown.

4) Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

5) For the frosting, put all the ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth and thick, adding more orange juice if needed. Spread over the top of the cake and decorate as desired.

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So, the recipe also calls for 1/2 cup of chopped pecans in the cake batter, but A) I didn't have any and B) that didn't sound write to me. So to each his own I guess. I got this from the companion book to 1 Dough, 100 Cookies, which I picked up at a bookstore near my house that was going out of business. It was SO worth the buy. Another thing I love is the size of the cake. Usually I find recipes that are all for quarter sheets or bigger. This is a lovely little cake I fit in an 8x8 in. pan and I love that it won't fester in my fridge. This is going to the perfect cake for dinner tonight!