Dark Carrot Cake

Recipe courtesy of The Fannie Farmer Baking Book

Andy made this cake for my birthday, and it was simply devine - moist, chewy, and, at times, crunchy because of the nuts. Yummy!

[Recipe has been doubled to make a three-layer cake (3 8-inch round cake pans)].

2 cups milk
4 eggs
12 tbsp butter, melted
2 cups dark-brown sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cups grated raw carrot
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
2 cups raisins
Cream-Cheese frosting (see next posting)

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch round pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter, and beat with a fork until well mixed. Add the sugar and beat well. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt cinnamon, and nutmeg, and add them to the first mixture. Beat until just blended. Stir in the carrot, walnuts, and raisins. Spread evenly in the prepared pans.
- Bake for 45 to 50 mins, or until a broom straw or wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 10 mins, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Spread with Cream-Cheese frosting.

[May need to modify baking time, as instructions above are for the original recipe, which is to make one 8-inch square cake.]

This recipe makes a huge amount of cake - three layers, 8-inches across. We had to freeze just over half the cake because there was so much!