Carrot Cake Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

My husband loves carrot cake and I have yet to make one for him mostly because I am completely overwhelmed with all the options and variations.  I stumbled across this recipe while looking for something else and it its simpleness intrigued me.  Also, I'm a sucker for a hint of lemon anywhere.  Even if you're not inclined to change your carrot cake recipe, start adding lemon zest to your cream cheese icing.  Seriously! Because these are in bar form, they are way less high maintenance than a layer cake and they're not dense- they're beautifully light and fluffy. 

Find the original recipe HERE. The original recipe calls for the cake batter to be divided in half.  But I found the bars too thin-so I would suggest either using like 2/3 of the batter in the 9x13 pan and then just making a couple cupcakes...or else pour into an 8x11 pan instead and save the other half in the freezer. 

Ingredients:
Carrot Cake Bars:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable or canola oil
4 large eggs
4 cups peeled and grated carrots
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Icing: (makes enough to frost 1 9x13 pan plus a little extra)
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
5 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 lemons zested

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease whatever pan you're going to use.  If you want to cook up all the batter at once, I recommend the 9x13 and a muffin tin (you will only get a couple muffins).
In a medium bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil and eggs on low speed until well blended. Mix in the dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the carrots and coconut.

Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan (or half the recipe into the 8x11). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (time will vary depending on what pan you've chosen), until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely in pan before frosting with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing. Once frosted, refrigerate at least 1 hour. Cut into bar-sized pieces.

To make frosting: Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, vanilla and lemon zest. Beat with a hand mixer until well-blended and smooth enough to frost cake. Avoid over-beating, which may make frosting too soft.