Carrott cake with buttermilk glaze

As you know, I go to a lot of banquet type dinners, which means I have had a lot of bad carrot cake. This carrot cake is not bad, it is good. One good thing about it is that it has a little twist. This adapted from a recipe I read in a cooking magazine (I think it was gourmet, I love cooking magazines with all my heart). Their recipe called to make regular frosting, but with the glaze, I thought that would be way too sugary, so I changed it to a cream cheese cream. I also added the nutmeg and clove to the glaze.

Ingredient list:

Cake:

2 c flour

2 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 c sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 c buttermilk

3/4 c vegetable oil

1 8 oz can crushed pineapple in juice

2 c carrots shredded

1 c chopped pecans

glaze:

1 stick butter

1/2 c buttermilk

1 c sugar

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 t vanilla

dash nutmeg

dash clove

cream cheese cream:

pint heavy whipping cream

half a block softened cream cheese

1/4 c sugar

1 t vanilla

For the cake, combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat together the eggs, sugar, buttermilk and oil. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat well. Fold in the carrots, pineapple along with the juice, and pecans. Transfer to a greased cake pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Loosely cover with foil, or put a cookie sheet over it (that is what I do) and bake for about 15 more minutes, test it with a tooth pick to make sure its done.

Meanwhile prepare the glaze: Combine everything but the baking soda in a sauce pan on the stove. Bring to a boil and allow it to boil for about a minute. Turn off the heat a add the baking soda (this will make it grow, so do it in a big pot). When the cake is done, poke holes in it all over and pour the glaze over it so it goes down into the holes (I use a chop stick or a bamboo skewer).

When you are ready to serve it, combine the cream cheese cream ingredients and beat them until they become stiff (not too stiff, that is butter!) and serve with the cake.