Buttermilk-Glazed Pineapple-Carrot Cake

This easy pineapple-carrot cake first ran in The New York Times Magazine in the spring of 1972, and it is one of the recipes that former Times columnist Joyce Purnick clipped and saved for decades in her recipe file. This is a snacking cake, mighty sweet, which benefits from a cup of coffee or another bitter drink to cut through the sugar. It might remind you of Jamaican black cake. Pour some rum on top if you so desire.

Ingredients

• 2

  cups/255 grams flour

• 1

  teaspoon baking soda

• ½

  teaspoon salt

• 1 ½

  cups/300 grams sugar

• 2

  teaspoons cinnamon

• 3

  eggs

• ¾

  cup/175 milliliters buttermilk

• ½

  cup/120 milliliters oil

• 2

  teaspoons vanilla

• 1

  (8 ounce/225 grams) can crushed pineapple

• 2

  cups/250 grams finely grated raw carrots (there should not be any liquid)

• 1

  cup/120 grams coarsely chopped nuts

• 1

  cup/85 grams unsweetened flaked coconut

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Beat the eggs with the buttermilk, oil and vanilla, and add to the dry ingredients all at once. Mix until smooth.
3. Fold in the pineapple, grated carrot, nuts and coconut, and pour into a greased and floured 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Bake 45 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly touched.
4. About 15 minutes before the cake is done, make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients except the vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring, over medium heat and boil gently five minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
6. Take the cake out of the oven and immediately prick it all over with a fork and slowly pour the buttermilk glaze over the top. Cool in pan. Cut into slices.