Double Birthday Week! Mom's Carrot Cake

This past week, both my mother and brother celebrated their birthdays. My mom turned 60 on Sunday, so I had to make her favorite--carrot cake! I was short on time, but I wanted the cake to have an authentic feel, so I decided to try Duncan Hines' deluxe carrot cake mix. It had a pouch of carrots and raisins to add to the batter!

My mom doesn't like raisins, so I diligently picked all of those pesky raisins out. (so much for saving time, right?) While the cake baked, I worked on a different cream cheese buttercream recipe I had found.

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar

1) With a whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy (about 5 minutes).

2) Add cream cheese and vanilla and mix on low for a minute or so.

3) Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and mix on low to combine after each addition. After all of the sugar is combined, whip the buttercream on high for about a minute or two.

Nice and fluffy!

I chopped up about a cup of walnuts and covered the sides of the cake then I decorated with orange flowers. Then I added the final touch- white chocolate numbers. (beats those number candles!)

My mom loved it!

And the cake was super moist with visible carrot shreds, so it definitely looked scratch-made! One qualm: the cake didn't rise as much as I wanted, so I would use two boxes for a double-layer 8 inch cake.