mom's carrot cake

 

Man. This week has been full of cooking failures. Some days I made things that sucked, and some days I failed to make anything at all. One day, I made something good - but I took a bad picture of it (in fact, several bad pictures!). I tend to do a lot of cooking on the weekend so that during the week, if necessary, I can subsist on Fairmount bagel veggie sandwiches like an urban boho hipster. I do love cooking, I just love it more on the weekend when I am not exhausted after a long day of work. 

Somehow, I tend to have more energy for baking cakes and other delectable items than I do for preparing a proper meal for myself. Case in point: earlier this week, a carrot cake happened in my kitchen. Don't ask me how it happened. Don't ask me how much icing I ate either, because I'll never tell you!

This is my mom's carrot cake recipe. I was floored when I saw how much oil was in it, but just keep reminding yourself that the cake is chock full of carrots, so no harm done. La la la la!

mom's carrot cake

1 cup vegetable oil, or other neutral oil (I use Becel oil)

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups carrots, grated

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

icing

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 325ºF and grease a 9" springform pan.

In a medium bowl, combine oil and sugar and mix until well combined. Add eggs and beat.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Make a well in the centre of the bowl, then pour wet ingredients into it. Stir until no flour patches remain, then gently fold in carrots, nuts and raisins.

Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Once you have taken it out of the oven, let it rest for about 10 minutes before releasing the spring on the pan. Let your cake cool completely before spreading on the icing.

To prepare the icing, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Gradually add the icing sugar, then the vanilla and lemon juice. Stir until everything is incorporated.

Ice your cake, then garnish it with chopped walnuts. It's ready to serve!