• Preheat oven to 350F and butter your 9x9 baking pan. You can line with parchment paper if you like, this helps remove the cake for easy frosting and serving.
• In a mixing bowl whisk together the wet ingredients well: the 1/4 cup melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract, making sure that the eggs are completely broken up and incorporated.
• Whisk in the 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Fold in the 1 cup all-purpose flour and then, when the flour is not quite fully incorporated, start folding in the additions: your 1 cup finely grated carrot, 1/4 cup well-drained crushed pineapple, 1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans*, 1/4 sweetened shredded coconut , and 1/2 cup golden raisins. Fold until everything is well incorporated, be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Turn the batter into your prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake in the middle rack of your preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until set in the center. A toothpick should come out without wet batter, but very moist crumbs are expected.
• Let the cake cool in the pan to firm up a bit, and if you have used parchment paper you can remove it to finish cooling on a rack. In either case let the cake cool completely before frosting.
• Generoulsy frost your cooled cake and top with chopped toasted pecans.

cream cheese frosting

• Cream the 4 Tbsp butter, softened and 4 ounces whipped cream cheese together, then add the 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Add more milk if your frosting is too thick, or add a bit more sugar if you want it thicker.