Wendy Ra­hamut

Car­rot cake came in­to pop­u­lar­i­ty in the eight­ies; it was all a rage then, grad­u­al­ly the dis­tri­b­u­tion in­creased to food shops and it was be­ing of­fered on the menus of restau­rants.It's now the 21st cen­tu­ry, and it's still as pop­u­lar as ever, so we can safe­ly say it has stood the test of time and has gained a place in the won­der­ful world of cakes. A good car­rot cake should be moist and light and not too sweet, not gum­my and floury.Wal­nuts or pecans are de­li­cious in the bat­ter, and raisins can be op­tion­al. The crown­ing glo­ry of it all is the cream cheese frost­ing, light, creamy and slight­ly tangy, in­fused with a bit or or­ange zest, a de­light­ful treat made in heav­en.

Car­rot Muffins

2 cups all-pur­pose flour-sift­ed

1/2 cup brown sug­ar

1 ta­ble­spoon bak­ing pow­der

1/2 tea­spoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups fine­ly shred­ded car­rots

1/2 cup veg­etable oil

2 ta­ble­spoon lemon juice

1 tea­spoon cin­na­mon

1/2 tea­spoon nut­meg

1/2 cup raisins

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 375&or­dm;F

Grease 12 large muf­fin cups or line with pa­per bak­ing cas­es

Com­bine flour, bak­ing pow­der, brown sug­ar, and salt. Set aside.

Beat eggs and add veg­etable oil, lemon juice, cin­na­mon, nut­meg, and car­rots.

Com­bine flour mix­ture with egg mix­ture stir­ring just un­til com­bined.

Stir in raisins.

Spoon mix­ture in­to muf­fin cups.

Bake for 20-25 min­utes or un­til gold­en brown.

Cool on racks.

Makes ten

PINEAP­PLE CAR­ROT CAKE

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sug­ar

2 cups, sift­ed, all pur­pose flour

2 tsp bak­ing so­da

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cin­na­mon

1/2 tsp grat­ed nut­meg

2/3 cup veg­etable oil

3 cups car­rots, peeled and grat­ed

18 oz can crushed pineap­ple drained,

1/2 cup chopped wal­nuts (op­tion­al)

METHOD

Pre­heat oven to 350?F

Grease. Line and flour a nine-inch by 13 inch cake pan, or two nine-inch cake pans.

Beat eggs with sug­ar un­til light and tripled in vol­ume, add vanil­la, with beat­er on medi­um speed slow­ly pour in veg­etable oil, and beat for one minute.

Sift to­geth­er dry in­gre­di­ents, re­duce mix­er speed to low, and add the flour mix­ture, beat­ing just un­til in­cor­po­rat­ed.

Us­ing a spat­u­la, fold in car­rots, pineap­ple, and wal­nuts

Pour bat­ter in­to pre­pared tin/tins.

Bake for 45 to 50 min­utes for large cake, or 35 min­utes for small­er cakes.

Re­move from oven cool and frost.

Makes 1, nine by 13-inch cake or two, nine-inch round cakes

CREAM CHEESE FROST­ING

1 lb cream cheese, room tem­per­a­ture

2/3 cup but­ter

2 1/2 cups ic­ing sug­ar, sift­ed

1 tsp grat­ed or­ange zest

2 tbs milk

METHOD

Cream but­ter with ic­ing sug­ar un­til creamy, add cream cheese and stir to a creamy con­sis­ten­cy, add a few drops of milk at a time if need­ed to bring bat­ter to a spread­able con­sis­ten­cy.

Stir in or­ange zest.

Frost cake.

Will frost and fill two nine-inch round cakes, or one nine-inch by 13-inch cake