This is the carrot cake of dreams folks! There is nothing better than a homemade cake, but this cake is taken to the next level when it soaks in a buttermilk glaze. It’s perfect for Easter!

I was inspired to make this cake when my friends and I had the most wonderful slice of carrot cake at a restaurant in New Orleans. From that first bite, I was on a mission to figure that recipe out. Well, I may not have that exact recipe, but I’d say this cake ranks up there with one of the Best Ever Carrot Cake recipes!

It’s a very simple recipe and I used freshly grated carrots. It’s an extremely moist cake due to the vegetable oil and shredded carrots. And it’s topped with a not too sweet cream cheese icing.

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Best Carrot Cake

This Ultimate Carrot Cake recipe has a delicious moist carrot cake soaked in a decadent buttermilk glaze and topped with cream cheese icing and pecans.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups shredded carrots

Buttermilk Glaze:

Toggle ingredient group

• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar
• 6 tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Icing:

Toggle ingredient group

• 1 stick butter
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Add eggs and vegetable oil stirring well to combine all ingredients.
4. Stir in shredded carrots.
5. Pour batter into a greased 13 x 9 pan.
6. Bake for 30- 35 minutes or until center is set

For the buttermilk glaze:

1. Start the glaze 10 minutes before the cake is done. Stir together milk and vinegar. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Add sugar, milk mixture, and baking soda. Stir and heat until boiling for about 1 minute. Mixture will be foamy. Remove from heat.
3. Once cake is removed from the oven, poke holes all over with a fork. Pour hot mixture over warm cake. Allow it to sit for 1 hour.

For the icing:

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese. Add in vanilla and beat. Add powdered sugar and beat until well combine.
2. Spread across cake after it sits for 1 hour. Top with chopped pecans.

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Other Old-Fashioned Cake Recipes You Might Like:

• Old-Fashioned Cajun Cake
• Sour Cream Coconut Pound Cake
• Grandgirl’s Apple Cake
• Strawberry Wet Cake

You can find more MAIN DISH RECIPES HERE. You can find ALL RECIPES HERE. For more ideas, follow me on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, AND TWITTER. Get FREE recipes delivered to you by email: SIGN UP HERE!

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I’m curious about everyone’s Easter traditions.  Does your family do a traditional meal?  Do you do an Easter brunch?  Our family typically does a meal that lends itself to warmer weather.  We usually have a smoked brisket with all the good fixings!  Here are some of our favorite Easter recipe ideas which go great with it!

Baked Potato Casserole
This recipe is hard not to love!  It’s perfect year round, but goes great with any smoked or barbecued protein!  It’s NOT twice baked potatoes!  Check out the recipe to see how it’s different.

Frito Corn Salad
Sounds weird, I know…but this is so DARN GOOD!!!!

Best Rice Dressing

Cucumber Tomato, and Onion Salad
I ADORE this recipe!

Vidalia Onion Cornbread Muffins
You don’t have to make muffins!  This recipes goes great in an 8 x 8 dish.  Double it if you have a crowd!

Layered Salad

Corn and Zucchini Casserole
I love this one!!!  

Other Fun Easter Recipe Ideas:

Easter Bunny Bait

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups

Easter Everything Bars

Not Yo Mama’s Banana Pudding
The ULTIMATE Banana Pudding.  If you haven’t made this, ummmm why???  It’s a HUGE HIT!

Resurrection Rolls
A yummy cinnamon breakfast treat with a meaningful lesson for your children this Easter.

You can find more MAIN DISH RECIPES HERE.
You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.
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Okay, so do you guys remember the Easter Bunny Bait I shared with you the other day?  Here is a cute treat topper perfect for a treat bag for friends, coworkers, classmates, and neighbors.  There are several ideas below for using these Free Easter Printables!

I like to use these treat bags which are 4 x 6 inches.  It’s a great size for a little snack.

This Easter Bunny Bait treat mix uses just a few ingredients and is very easy to make!!  It’s perfect for any Easter gathering!

And here are the Easter tags, which came out so cute!  They are perfect for attaching to Easter basket fillers!!  I put one on some sidewalk chalk, but the possibilities are endless!!

They can even fit on these punch balloons, which make a fun treat for classmates!  Who doesn’t love a good punch balloon.  I ordered this pack here.

Here are some ways to attach these Free Easter Printable Tags for a fun treat:

• Tied to a Punch balloons
• Tied to a Stuffed Easter Bunny
• Tied to an Easter Dish Towel
• Attach to a Bubble Wand
• Tied to an Easter Lily
• Tied to an Outdoor Velcro Ball Set

Here are the PDF files for the Easter Printables:

Easter Bunny Bait Topper

Easter Tags

Be sure to Tag me on social media if you use any of these cute Easter Printables!!  Talk to you guys soon!

You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.
For more ideas, follow me on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, AND TWITTER.
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Oh this Easter Bunny Bait did not disappoint folks, and it’s so EASY to make too!  That’s a little dangerous.  We may be making this a little more than once this season.  It’s perfect for sharing with friends, family, and coworkers.  They will be happy you did!

And really the possibilities for this kind of snack mix are endless.  I really love the Rice Chex and the Golden Grahams, but you can use other cereals too.  This recipe doesn’t call for nuts, but that would be great too.  I would you a roasted and salted nut for that extra sweet and salty combo.

What do you need to make Easter Bunny Bait?

• Rice Chex cereal
• Golden Grahams cereal
• pretzels
• Easter sprinkles
• Easter M&M’s (I used the Egg-shaped chocolate ones).
• Spring marshmallows
• vanilla candy coating

Ways to Change this Easter Bunny Bait:

• You can add 1 cup of salted almonds. Decrease each cereal by 1/2 cup if you add almonds.

• Omit marshmallows if you aren’t a fan of these.

• You can use different flavors of M&M’s too.

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Here are some other fun Easter recipes:

• Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups
• Easter Everything Bars
• Resurrection Rolls

You can find more DESSERT RECIPES HERE.
You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.
For more ideas, follow me on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, AND TWITTER.
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Easter is on its way folks!  I’m sure all you foodies like me have already started thinking about what you want to make for the big day.  And if you’re like me and gave up sweets for Lent, then I’m sure desserts are definitely at the forefront of your mind!  Easter is also our spring break, so the countdown is definitely on for sure!  I can’t wait for you guys to check out all these great looking recipes too.  We’ve got a delicious ham, some spring sides, and of course, scrumptious desserts!

Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest and Facebook too where I’m always sharing yummy recipes!

Follow on Instagram for More Recipes and Fun!!

Easter Recipes

Glazed Hame with Cherry Sauce

Bird’s Nest Cookies

Dyed Deviled Eggs

Super Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups

Layered Salad

Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes

Cheesy Corn Casserole

Crunch Cauliflower and Cashew Salad

Resurrection Rolls

Chocolate Dream Trifle

Green Pea Soup with Candied Bacon

Garlic Butter Green Beans

Carrot Cake Gooey Butter Cookies

Carrot Sheet Cake

Thanks for checking out our Weekly Family Meal Plan!  Have a great week!! Brought to you by:

Diary of a Recipe Collector | Neighborfood | Melanie Makes | Garnish and Glaze | Little Dairy on the Prairie

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I love how easy these Easter Everything Bars were!  We made them in just a few minutes on Sunday.  They really are a perfect dessert to make with kids.  My oldest loves chopping.  She is my designated chopper on days when I’m not in a big hurry to get cooking.  She chopped the salted almonds while my youngest daughter poured the measured ingredients in the bowl.  We stirred it all up, and then they got a lesson on how sweetened condensed milk is one of the best things ever invented.

I encouraged both of them to just take one lick of that liquid gold and not to be fooled by the drab color.   We poured it over all the mixture and baked it.  And boy did this little treat smell good as it baked!

I’ve always loved a salty-sweet combo, and this definitely has it.  They remind me a little of a magic cookie bar, so if you are a fan of those, you will love these too! And I’d say they were a hit.  I brought them to work with me and they were all gone by the next morning!

Easter Everything Bars

Yield: 20 to 24 bars

Print

Ingredients

• 2 cups crushed plain potato chips
• 2 cups roughly chopped salted/roasted almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup toffee bits
• 1 cup white chocolate Easter M&Ms
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients except condensed milk in a large bowl.
3. Line a 13 x 9 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
4. Add mixture to pan and press down to spread it evenly across pan.
5. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk slowly over the entire mixture.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and cool for about 30-45 minutes. Carefully remove from pan by lifting foil edges and place on a large platter or another pan. Place in refrigerator to chill for a few hours. Cut into bars and serve.

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• 
  Pyrex (1) 233 3-Qt Rectangular Glass Baking Dish & (1) 233-PC Red Food Storage Lid – Clear Glass Bakeware – Perfect for Leftovers, Food Preparation and So much More - Made in the USA

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Looking for other Easter goodies?

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups

No-Bake Nutella Cookies

Resurrection Rolls

Follow my Easter board on Pinterest for more ideas!

You can find more DESSERT RECIPES HERE.

You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.

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Easter is always such a happy celebration day in our family.  Over the last few years, I have hosted Easter at my house.  I always look forward to everyone coming over.  The kids have egg hunts, we dye eggs, and of course, we “paque” eggs.  And I’m so curious about y’all!  Do you “paque” eggs where you live?  I want to say it is a Louisiana tradition, but perhaps it has traveled farther.  An egg paque is when you and another person each take a dyed (boiled) egg and tap them together.  Whoever has the broken egg loses.  It is so much fun!  We go around and paque with everyone.  You can even have a little contest.  It is, by far, my favorite family tradition.

And of course, other traditions include our menu for Easter.  Occasionally we will do have a very traditional Easter menu, but every now and then we will barbecue a brisket.  No matter what we do, we always have plenty of sides and desserts.  So here are ten recipes here on the blog that would be a hit at your Easter celebration too!

Baked Potato Casserole 
This is one of the most popular recipes on this blog!

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups
My kids love this one, and we will be making it again!  This year, I will make it as a large trifle dish.  You could even make it in a casserole dish!

French Onion Dip
At any family gathering, we always have snacks to munch on for sure!

Layered Salad
This is another recipe that is super popular on the blog!  I’ll be making it this weekend too 🙂

No-Bake Nutella Cookies
These are super easy to make!

Resurrection Rolls
A great breakfast with a meaningful lesson my kids never forget!

Vidalia Onion Corn Muffins
These are just so darn good!

Frito Corn Salad
I LOVE this one!

Chocolate Dream Trifle
One of my favorite desserts ever!

Corn & Zucchini Casserole
This is the easiest recipe!

You can find more SIDE DISH RECIPES HERE.

You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.

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I’m so excited to bring you these little No-Bake Nutella Cookies today!  They took hardly no time at all to make, and they are so kid-friendly!  Plus you don’t have to worry about baking multiple batches.  I made them on Tuesday afternoon, and my kids were so excited when they got home from school!

These are so easy to make and only take a few ingredients!  They can be made any time of year, of course, but the little chocolate eggs are a nice touch for Easter!

What do you need to make No-Bake Nutella Cookies?

• stick butter
• granulated sugar
• milk
• Nutella
• vanilla extract
• oatmeal
• rice cereal
• Optional: Candy coated chocolates (I used coconut-flavored M&M’s)

So I hope these cookies make their way into your kitchen for the Easter season or just because!!

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No-Bake Nutella Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen

No-Bake Nutella Cookies - A quick and easy no-bake cookie perfect for holidays or every day filled with Nutella and oatmeal!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1/2 cup rice cereal
• Optional: Candy coated chocolates (I used coconut-flavored M&M's)

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Add sugar and milk and stir until combined. Let it come to a boil. Keep stirring for about a minute. Lower heat a little and add Nutella and vanilla and stir well to combine.
3. Remove from heat and add in oatmeal and rice cereal stirring well to coat.
4. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Flatten a little with the back of the spoon and rest some candies on the top.
5. Allow to set for an hour or two.

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  Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker's Half Sheet (2 Pack), Silver

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 Other recipes you might like:

Easter Potato Chip Cookies

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups

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Oh how I love these Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups!  Let me just say that they were devoured at my house like no dessert ever before.  I mean I’ve made dirt pudding for them before, but I think the Peeps and the chocolate eggs sealed the deal!  I have a feeling I’ll be making another batch of these before Easter.  If you have little ones around, you must make this for them! 

This is a traditional dirt pudding recipe which uses cream cheese, and it’s the only way to go in my opinion!  Here are my favorite ways to make these:

• mason jars
• mini trifle dishes
• regular trifle dish
• clear plastic cups – makes it really easy on the clean up!

What do you need to make these Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups?

• Oreos – Regular 14 oz package 
• instant vanilla pudding
• milk
• cool whip
• cream cheese
• butter
• powdered sugar
• Blue and pink food coloring
• Toppings: 1 cup coconut, green food coloring, chocolate eggs with candy shell, Easter Chick Peeps

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Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups

Yield: 8 jars or 1 large trifle dish

Easter Peeps Dirt Pudding Cups - A fun Easter treat using the classic dirt pudding recipe makes a perfect dessert for your family this Easter.

Print

Ingredients

• 1 14 oz package of Oreos
• 2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 12 oz cool whip
• 1 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Blue and pink food coloring
• Topping: 1 cup coconut, green food coloring, chocolate eggs with candy shell, Easter Chick Peeps

Instructions

1. Crush Oreos in a food processor. (This can also be done by putting them in a plastic storage bag and crushing them with a rolling pin or canned good).
2. In a large bowl, whisk pudding mixes and milk for about 30 seconds. Set aside to thicken while you make the cream cheese mixture.
3. In another large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add and beat in powdered sugar.
4. By this point, pudding should be thickened. Whisk it a little more to combine thoroughly. Whisk in cool whip into pudding.
5. Pour pudding mixture into cream cheese mixture and mix until combined.
6. Divide mixture in half. Using a few drops of food coloring for each, dye one blue and the other pink. Stir until color is completely mixed in, adding more dye if necessary..
7. Begin layering in small jars or mini trifle dishes: 1-2 tbsp crushed Oreos, 2 tbsp blue pudding, 1-2 tbsp Oreos, 2 tbsp pink pudding, 1-2 tbsp crushed Oreos, 1 tbsp blue pudding, 1 tbsp crushed Oreos.
8. Place coconut in a small plastic storage bag. Place a few drops of green food coloring into the coconut. Seal bag while letting air out. Begin moving and mixing coconut around in bag to dye the coconut green.
9. Place coconut onto top layer of Oreos.
10. Place a few candy eggs onto coconut.
11. Finish off with a Peep Easter Chick.
12. Repeat with remaining jars.

Notes

This can also be made using a large trifle dish or a small punch bowl. Start and end with crushed oreos as you layer. You will end up with 4 layers of pudding mixture and five layers of oreos.

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  Anchor Hocking Presence Mini Trifle Footed Bowl, Set of 8

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 Other recipes you might like:

Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding

Mini Cherry Cheesecake Trifles

Chocolate Dream Mousse Trifle

You can find more MAIN DISH RECIPES HERE.
You can find ALL RECIPES HERE.
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In my family, we LOVE Deviled Eggs!  Here are a few versions:

BLT Deviled Eggs

Southwestern Deviled Eggs

Here are some great sides to try!

Vidalia Onion Cornbread Muffins

Sour Cream Butter Biscuits

Veggie Squares

Layered Salad


Frito Salad


French Onion Dip

King Ranch Chicken Dip

And you’ve got to have a sweet…especially for those of us who are too big for Easter baskets…

Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding

Strawberry Cake

Easter Potato Chip Cookies


Chocolate Dream Trifle

I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend!

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