Carrot Cake with Vanilla Frosting

My grandmother's 80th birthday party was this past weekend and my grandfather asked me to make the cake.  I figured everyone loves a carrot cake, so that's what I decided to make.  

I have made this carrot cake in a rectangular cake before, but never a layer cake.  The cake recipe can be found on this previous post: carrot cake.  The difference is the baking time and the icing.  As much as I love cream cheese icing with carrot cake, it's not strong enough for a layer cake.

For this cake, pour the batter into two prepared round 8 inch pans.  Make sure the pans are sprayed with PAM and the bottoms are lined with parchment paper.  Cook for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

For the icing:
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves.  Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 30-60 seconds.  Reduce the speed to medium-low, slowly add the confectioner's sugar, and beat until smooth, 2-5 minutes.  Beat in the cream mixture.  Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 4-8 minutes.