Farewell Recipe Heap, and The Best Carrot Cake Recipe Ever





O recipe heap, I will miss you. But you were becoming a hazard! Precious pages were falling out, your rings were rusty and wasps had built their nests between your masking tape and your previous scotch tape. When I saw the NEW Recipe Book™, looking so shiny, I had to have it. And so you were retired. About time.

Naturally, your rings are not the same distance apart as the rings in the NEW Recipe Book™, so some hole-punching and re-writing has to occur.

Some recipes cannot be re-written, as they are glorious on airmail form, and in the handwriting of people now deceased. Fortunately, NEW Recipe Book™ has nice card for gluing special things to.

THE BEST CARROT CAKE RECIPE

This is rich, beautiful looking and really nutty. Like me.

Heat oven to 350

3 cups flour: I use about half white, half whole wheat or kamut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
Chopped Walnuts, 1 or 2 cups depending on how much you like walnuts
Raisins (optional, my kids hate them)
2 tsp cinnamon and some nutmeg or mace to taste
½ tsp salt
1½ cups oil
1½ cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups chopped pumpkin or carrot
1 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together white flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. If you're lazy and you don't sift, you'll get bits of baking soda. Eeeew! Stir in nuts and raisins. If they are well coated with flour, they will not sink during baking.

Put the oil in a blender with cup measurements. Add carrot (or pumpkin) until you get to 3½ cups (that's 1½ cups oil + 2 cups carrot, 'k?)

Pour carrot and oil mixture into sifted dry ingredients, and add everything else. Blend well and pour into greased AND FLOURED loaf pans (or heart-shaped pan if you're making a wedding cake)

Bake for 50 mins at 350, or about 30 mins for muffins. Mmmm.




Comments

HalfAsstic.com said…
Nan, I love the recipe and the thought that it's someone's favorite makes it even better.
You are right about how wonderful it is to have those old ones. You might want to consider taking them to the library or some such place and getting them laminated.
Islandgirl said…
I can safely say without a doubt that this is the BEST BEST BEST carrot cake recipe EVER. As you all know when Chris and I FINALLY decided to get married Carrot cake was the only cake we would consider. My friend Sue in Canada made the original carrot cake that had us meeting at the fridge at 2am 10 years ago and got the romance going. As Suz could not make it to the wedding Nancy valiantly stepped in and made us the ultimate cake. Our love is bound to last forever with a start like that! Try it! You will love it and maybe it will even kindle a few sparks. :-)
Anonymous said…
I hear you about original recipes. Recipe boxes are a time capsule of sorts, aren't they?
Your cake sounds good enough to eat (hahaha!)
Islandgirl said…
Nan..you'll miss the 'scratch and taste' function of the old book.

What did you do with it? I would not be able to bring myslef to throw it away. Sort of the same reason I have about 6 ratty eared decrepit phone books stuffed away in odd places. Time capsules indeed!