Carrot Cake

Yummy carrot cake! (I promise we didn't already polish off the zucchini bread on our own. We froze half of each loaf and now we are in desperate need of cake!) The recipe I love for carrot cake is from the March/April 2003 issue of Cook's Illustrated. They recommend adding nuts (walnuts or pecans) and raisins. I only had walnuts, so I added about 1C of chopped nuts when I added the carrots.

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a 13 by 9 inch pan.

Butter or spray the pan and then put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan and spray the paper.

In a bowl mix together 2 1/2C flour, 1 1/4t baking powder, 1t baking soda, 1 1/4t cinnamon, 1/2t ground nutmeg, 1/8t ground cloves, and 1/2t salt.

Meanwhile, grate 1 lb. carrots (about 6-7 large carrots). (Go

ahead and use a food processor because you are going to keep using it for the batter and the frosting.)

In a food processor, mix 1 1/2C sugar, 1/2C brown sugar, and 4 eggs. Process this for about 20 seconds until frothy and completely combined. With the machine running, add 1 1/2C oil (safflower, canola, or vegetable) in a steady stream. Process until the mixture is light and the oil is fully emulsified. Pour this batter into a large bowl. Mix in carrots and nuts and raisins (if you want).

Mix in dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time and stir until fully combined. Pour this into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (longer if you add nuts and/or raisins). Rotate the cake half-way through.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a rack for 2 hours. Remove cake from pan and frost when fully cooled.

For the frosting, allow 8 0z. of cream cheese and 5T of butter to soften but not fully warm to room temperature. Process the cheese and butter with 1T sour cream and 1/2t vanilla for about 5 seconds. Add 1 1/4C powdered sugar (I only used 1C) to the frosting mix and process for an additional 10 seconds. Spread this evenly across the cake! I like to the chill the cake before eating.