By special request, I am posting the recipe for Carrot Cake—or was it Italian Cream Cheese Cake??? I cant remember, so you are getting both with the recipe for icing that is used on both.
I changed my opinion of Cream Cheese Icing when I saw this recipe in Baking and Pastry Cookbook from The Culinary Institute of America. It seemed that my recipe was runny no matter how much powdered sugar was added. I realized that the large amount of cream cheese and butter made this recipe light and fluffy without a lot of sweetness from the powdered sugar. That’s when we started using this recipe at Stevens Catering.
The recipe for Carrot Cake is large, but is well worth the effort. You can always bake 2 smaller cakes and freeze one. Butavan is a commercial flavoring that is no longer being marketed. It can be substituted with 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 butter flavoring. It is a good product and used in commercial cakes. If you would like to try something similar, I have put a link below. Enjoy!
Note, this post includes affiliate links where I may get a small commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. The Carrot Cake calls for a 5 qt. mixer as shown below. Since I have burned up several mixers except the one made by Hobart, I look for Hobart Kitchen Aide Mixers at estate sales. Of course, I was using them everyday commercially. For home use this type will do fine. Thanks for your support.