Cleaning Out The Fridge Part II.

At long last, i finally made that carrot cake.

This cake practically defined my childhood. There was little that could get me more excited than the aroma of this divine cake wafting through the house. To my then undiscerning tastebuds, a slice of this cake was such an exquisite treat and would quickly be gobbled up faster than you could ask to have a taste.

As far as carrot cakes go, this is the carrot cake i measure all other carrot cakes against and most don’t even come close to being half as good. Moist, crumbly with the occasional burst of sweetness from the raisins i threw in in a whim and pineapple and topped with a generous dollop of cream cheese frosting, this is the cake that will put the spring back in my step in a long, hard day, turn a smile into a frown, you get my corny drift

This is by no means a health-conscious cake, it is meant to be dug right in with a fork, heck even with your fingers if you wish, and indulged in all its glorious tasty sinfulness. Be warned though, you might polish off the entire cake before you realize it.

My Mum’s Carrot Cake
The list of ingredients came with one line; mix all ingredients. This is how i interpreted that.

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn oil
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
1 can (440g) of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (use ground almonds if you like. i just had hazelnuts on hand)
3 handfuls of raisins

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 tsp vanilla essence
250g Philly cream cheese, at room temperature
125g butter, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease and line the base of a 9 inch round springform pan. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine everything but flour, eggs and oil, taking care to mix well. Add oil and stir vigorously to combine. Add eggs in one at a time, combining well after each addition. Add flour in 2 batches, mixing till just combined.
3. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for about an hour, or till a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes up clean.
4. To make frosting Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, vanilla and butter together till well combined. Add icing sugar and combine well. When cake has cooled completely, spread evenly over top of cake.

I made 4 cupcakes, to tide a friend through her long day studying at the uni, and the rest into a cake, just for convenience’s sake. Bake the mini cakes for about 25 minutes if you choose to make them in that form. It should easily give you 24 cupcakes.

Edit:
Text received from said friend an hour after the cupcakes were delivered-
“Babe, these are really really good! I’ve had two already. How much will go straight to my ass?”

Gotta love that girl