Jack Daniel’s Carrot Cake w Heavenly Frosting

Adapted from Jack Daniels: The Spirit of Tennessee Cookbook

A long, long time ago in a different lifetime it seems now, back before I was married, before I had children, I was a working woman who travelled a lot for work. One of my trips took me to Tennessee, fairly close to the Jack Daniels distillery. We even managed to squeeze in a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery while we were there. It’s beautiful country, with rolling green hills, lots of trees and rivers, lakes and deer.

The place I was staying at was selling this cookbook: Jack Daniels: The Spirit of Tennessee Cookbook. I paged through it and immediately knew I had to take one home. I think I only bought one cookbook on that trip, but when I returned, I bought more for gifts. I had to share this marvelous book with my family and friends!

This carrot cake is my most treasured recipe from that book. We have made it countless times in my family; it’s often served for birthdays, out-of-town guests, and other special occasions. It’s one of those family favorite recipes now, our go-to carrot cake recipe. My dad makes it with raisins in place of the pineapple. I always insist that the pineapple is better (but I wouldn’t turn down a piece of my dad’s cake either).

This is our take on the recipe. We’ve cut the oil down to 1/3 of what the original recipe calls for and the sugar is cut in half. I also use whole wheat flour in place of half the all purpose flour. It’s still just as amazing tasting. In fact, one of my work friends told me today he thinks it is the best carrot cake he’s ever tasted.

The really funny thing is, I don’t drink whiskey, but I love to cook with it, especially since I discovered that wonderful cookbook in the beautiful back country of Tennessee.

Jack Daniels Carrot Cake with Heavenly Frosting

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 16 - 20 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Dry ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup sugar

Wet ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt or applesauce
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 8-oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans, toasted
• 1/4 cup Jack Daniels whiskey

For the Heavenly Frosting:

• 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 oz. light cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz. powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon whiskey

For the top: some extra chopped pecans, toasted (if desired)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients until fully mixed.
2. Stir in the wet ingredients just until everything is well blended.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for 35 – 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean..
4. Mix up the frosting by mixing together the softened butter and cream cheese, then stir in the powdered sugar and whiskey. Let the cake cool before frosting it.

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Notes

This recipe makes just a thin glaze of frosting for the cake. For a thicker frosting, make a double batch and add extra powdered sugar to thicken it. RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ © Copyright 2013, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. I love it when you share, but please do not use my images on your own site/page without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. Sharing, pinning, and tweeting is always appreciated as long as the shares and pins link back to here for the recipe. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at Thursday Favorite Things,  Fun Fridays and What to Do Weekends.