Carrot Pumpkin Cake

There was a Baby Shower for Danielle last night, and Randie talked me into making the cake (She said that she would help, and true to her word she did all the flower decorations... Great Job!! it looked great.) It was a Latin Theme... We decided to go with Carrot Cake, and I wanted to try adding pumpkin because it sounded like it would work really well, plus it would probably help it stay moist. I looked at some recipes, but couldn't find a Carrot Pumpkin Cake.. so I made up my own Recipe.  I have to say the Pumpkin was amazing, providing a subtle underlying pumpkin flavor that blended really well with the spices in the cake.  It was a huge success.

The Original Recipe is in Black and then my modifications are in Red... Some of the modifications were for High altitude, (The air is pretty thin here in Colorado Springs) so if your making this at lower elevations I would use 1 less Egg, All purpose Flour, and bake at 350 the entire time.

Rich's Carrot Pumpkin Cake

2 cups All Purpose Flour (Bread Flour works better at High Altitude)
2 tsp Baking Soda (1-1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Ginger
1/8 tsp ground Cloves
1/4 tsp ground All Spice
3 Large Eggs (4 Large Eggs, helps with Altitude)
2 cups Sugar
2 Tbs Molasses
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
3/4 cup Buttermilk (1/2 Cup)
1 Cup Pumpkin
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Grated Carrots (I personally like the larger grate than the small grate)
8 oz Crushed Pineapple
3.5 oz Flaked Coconut (I used 1.5- 2 oz)
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
Next time I make it I will probably add 1/3 cup raisins as well :)

Combine Sugar, Molasses and the Eggs in mixer and cream together for a minute or two, then add the other wet ingredients Oil, Buttermilk, Pumpkin, Vanilla, and mix well.  Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, whisk together and with mixer on low slowly add to the wet ingredients... once flour is incorporated, add the remaining ingredients just until they are incorporated.

Make two 9 inch cakes.  I always use wax paper in the bottom of my cake pans, saves a lot of grief... Bake at 350 for 25  to 30 minutes (Bake at 375 for 20 mins,, then reduce heat to 350 for 10 more minutes)

If anyone decides to try it I would love to hear how it turns out :)