Carrot Cake

~For Gina and Connor

My momma’s birthday cake.  A repeat of Sam’s birthday cake, ‘cause it was that good!

Carrot cakes should have, well, you know, carrots. 

Yum.  Four cups of finely grated carrots and one cup of yummy raisins. Set these aside until later.

Mix up your wet ingredients; eggs, oil, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.

Measure the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a seperate bowl and add to the wet ingredients slowly.

 

Slowly stir in those pretty carrots and raisins.

Bake in two 9 inch cake pans.  I bought these pretties at an auction in bundle with about 10 other round pans of various sizes for about $3.00.  Talk about a deal.  I love country auctions. 

I know lots of people say that you must oil and flour pans to keep the cake from sticking.  It’s just no guarantee, so I use shortening to grease the pan, and then I cut waxed paper circles for the bottom. 

Just peel the paper off after turning the cake out into a plate.  It’s the only fool-proof way I know, so I always use it when I need my cakes to come out of the pan in one piece.  There’s nothing worse than trying to put the crumbled cake back together before decorating.

Speaking of decorating, we need a good icing.  My cream cheese icing is a bit different.  It’s a cross between a butter-cream icing and a cream cheese based icing.  It’s sweet, light, fluffy, and yummy with just enough cream cheese flavor.

I start by whipping a mixture of meringue powder and water until it forms peaks.

Then, I slowly mix in about 2 cups of the powdered sugar.  Now, we can start adding the rest of the sugar, the cream cheese, and the shortening or butter.  Just alternate the ingredients, adding just a bit at a time.

All that is left is adding the flavorings and a bit of salt.  Yum!

I like the way the cloves and the cinnamon add color and a bit of interest to the icing.

Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

 

Carrot Cake

4 cups carrots, finely grated

1 cup raisins

1 cup walnuts (optional)

4 eggs

1 cup oil or applesauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

A healthy dash of vanilla…  about 1 tablespoon

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

 

Butter-cream/Cream Cheese Icing

1/3 cup cold water

2 Tablespoons meringue powder

2 lbs powdered sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 - 8 oz stick of cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

dash of ground cloves

dash of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/8 teaspoon salt