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1
Place raisins in a microwave-safe bowl and drizzle with the 3 tbsp of orange liqueur; cover with plastic wrap or a lid and microwave on Medium power for 1 or 2 minutes, until the raisins are warm; remove from microwave and set aside.
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2
Preheat oven to 350F; lightly butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray three 9-inch round cake pans or three of the disposable 8 1/2-inch or 9-inch foil pans.
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3
Line the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment paper or wax paper, lightly greased; set pans aside.
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4
Scrape carrots and grate, using either the grating disc in your cuisinart or on the large holes of a box grater; you do NOT want to grind the carrots, you want them shredded.
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5
Grated carrots should measure out to be 3 1/2 cups; don't use any more than that or your cake's texture will definitely suffer.
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6
In a mixing bowl, with electric mixer, beat together eggs, orange zest, brown sugar, oil and vanilla; beat until smooth.
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7
In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices; I do this by sifting all through a sieve into the bowl.
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8
Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture and pour in egg mixture, stirring just until moist.
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9
Carefully fold in carrots and raisins (and any remaining liqueur).
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10
Divide evenly among three prepared pans; smooth tops.
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11
Bake in preheated oven until a tester comes out clean when inserted in centre of cakes, 25 to 30 minutes.
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12
When done, remove cakes from oven and cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and let cool thoroughly.
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13
You could now wrap the cakes tightly and refrigerate them overnight, if you wanted to ice the cake the next day.
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14
To make the icing, beat softened cream cheese (2 250 gram or 8 oz bars= one pound) in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer until creamy.
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15
Beat in icing sugar, vanilla and liqueur, combining well.
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16
Place one layer of cake on a plate and spread one-third of icing over cake layer, going right to the edges.
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17
Repeat with the next two layers.
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18
If desired, sprinkle the toasted coconut over the top layer of icing.
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19
Refrigerate cake for at least one hour before serving, and keep leftover cake in the fridge, well covered.
