The Best Carrot Cake Recipe this Side of the Pecan

Delicious, with or without icing.

In my last post, I spent some time discussing my car, Gizmo, and his recent troubles.  I dealt with them in the time-honoured Veranda Life way: by breathing, relaxing, and drinking black tea often, with Carrot Cake.

It worked.

I found the recipe at Best Recipes - an Australian web site full of recipes.  It was submitted by Melissa - Melissa, I'm grateful for your excellent taste.  I haven't tried the icing yet, but it sounds lovely.  You could easily simply dust some icing sugar over the top and save time, and calories, if you must.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

185 grams butter (either ordinary or unsalted, both seem to work)
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
2 cups grated carrot
3/4 cup walnuts (I give them a bit of a chop if they're whole or a bit big)
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice

Icing
60 grams cream cheese
30 grams soft butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar


Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well mixed.
3. Stir in the carrots and walnuts.
4. Sift in remaining dry ingredients.
5. Pour into a greased round cake tin (a sheet of baking paper on the bottom helps a lot, too) and bake at 180C for 1 hour. (I set my fan-forced oven at about 160 or 170 and the cake is done at around 45 minutes - maybe my oven is a bit fast.)
6. Icing: Beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
7. Gradually beat in icing sugar.  (I haven't tried the icing but I'll bet it's good).

So, there you are.  Veranda Life takes care of your every need, from Verandaku to Cakeku - watch the glottal stop, campers. 

The reason I'm happy about this recipe is that I'm not a cook, I'm a writer.  My cooking skills are quite limited, so to be able to add a cake that works to my (very) short list is something of an achievement.  Therefore, I write about it, so others like me may enjoy a similar sense of satisfaction when they give it a go and find that it succeeds. 

Do not be faint of heart.  Take up your mixmaster and your wooden spoon, and COOK.  You have nothing to lose but your ability to fit into your jeans.