Carrot Cake Anyone?

my Dad recently gave me the latest issue of Food and Drink and I was immediately inspired to bake!  It's like it was fate or something, when my dad brought me the magazine my mom had been cleaning out her own baking cupboard and brought along a bag of pecans that she realized she likely wouldn't use not to mention I had at least 2 lbs of carrots just sitting in the fridge and when I crack open my newly acquired Food and Drink Magazine they're doing a feature on cakes......Carrot cakes!  so I chop up the pecans and I dig out my grater and I grate every carrot in the house.  about 6 cups in total.....thats alot of grated carrot.  but what's better than one cake? two cakes!  (one was given to the neighbors, and the other was shared with friends)

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans

•  Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 
  
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• shredded coconut (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-12 inch round pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots and pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. slice the cake in half (horizontally) if you want to make it a layered cake
5. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Frost the cooled cake.  *optional* sprinkle shredded coconut over iced cake