Posted on by Mary Visconti

Carrot Cake is a traditional classic and shows your daughter that using things like veggies is doable in a dessert. (It’ll be a great lesson especially if she’s difficult about eating her veggies.)

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
  • 1 cup crushed pineapple
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tosp salt
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups freshly grated carrots (was about 5 medium carrots for me)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 8 Oz Cream cheese (Softened)
  • 1/2 Cup Butter (Softened)
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla
  • 3 Cups Powdered sugar
                     
                     

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together your sugars, oil, and crushed pineapple until well combined.
  3. Add in the eggs and stir until just combined.
  4. Dump in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour. Stir into the mixture.
  5. Fold in your grated carrots.
  6. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.
  7. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 37-45 minutes (Mine took 40) or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting. (Place in the fridge to speed up cooling.)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  1. Beat your cream cheese in a large bowl over medium speed until smooth.
  2. Add in the butter and continue beating till well blended.
  3. Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and continue to mix until the frosting is totally smooth.
  4. Spread over cooled cake.
                     
                     

These are all just examples of great recipes that work well for younger kids. They’re simple, have a decent amount of steps - but not too many - and have relatively short prep and cook times. They offer enough tasks that your daughter will be able to participate in such as whisking ingredients together, laying portions out on baking sheets, adding spices and ingredients and more.