Sledding for Carrots... and more Cake

As a 9 year old in the northeast I liked, nay, I loved to go sledding and would do so at any opportunity. A quarter inch of snow on the ground? Count me in! The dog poo I was supposed to pick up but didn't will help me with the sweet jump I built out of a couple of logs of firewood and an old stop sign!! What could go wrong? (I'm sure I was irritating enough for my parents to want to shove me out in the cold and hope hypothermia sets in so I'll just sit down and be quiet for 10 minutes. )
The school I went to was in a mini-valley with steep hillsides on two sides of the playground. These were some primo sledding hills. However being a Catholic school and me being in the possession of a vagina I had to wear a skirt so the recess sledding was not in the works por moi. Then the loveliest thing of all happened. The school decided to allow anyone who wore ski-pants* to school to put them on at recess and have at it. WOOT!!
Exciting Conclusion:
My friend Allie (who I still look for... she was a Navy kid) accidentally knocked me down and I bit through my bottom lip (I still have a mini scar).

What took us down this memory lane? Nephew fell on the playground and had to get 2 stitches in his bottom lip. Poor guy... He seems to, unfortunately, take after his GrandpaDPO and the DPO in the grace department. I'm buying that kid a helmet and kevlar suit.

Today I have a recipe for the best way to eat carrots- in the form of cake. For those who don't care for the taste of the carrot, this recipe is for you because you can't even taste carrot. It's just sort of in there...

Fun facts about carrots:
1. Greeks seem to be responsible for starting the whole eating carrots will help your eyesight thing. What a bunch of smarties those ancients were.**
2. Actually it was probably the Afghans that found this out but they didn't announce it to the world because carrots are thought to have originated from the Afghanistan area...
3. You should all be aware, there are carrot museums in the UK and Belgium. Now go visit them.
4. The world's longest carrot was about 19 feet long.

Ridiculous.

Into this cake, you may put in raisins and nuts if you want to but I don't. Cooked raisins remind me of bloated ticks. Sure they taste fine but I still have a hard time getting the thought of those giant ticks stuck to Ralphie out of my head. And now you may too, don't thank me for the imagery... it's my pleasure.
I don't use applesauce or any of that crap (although it does work well). The original recipe I found called for a BOAT load of oil.
Yes, an entire Frigate hold of oil.
But lucky for you, I've cut down the oil to a point where it still keeps the cake moist but isn't as much...
What I'm saying here is that this is not a "light" cake or low-fat or any of that.
It's a friggin' cake.
It's delicious, eat it.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cup of grated carrots (little less than a 1lb bag)
2 cups All purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash of pepper or cayenne pepper (optional)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil (make sure your oil is fresh otherwise your cake will taste sort of rancid or plastic-y)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

The Set Up
1. Grate your carrots, don't grate your fingers.
2. Squish out as much carrot juice as possible
3. set aside
4. Sift together flour, soda, powder, salt and spices and set aside

Oven stuff
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Put the parchment paper circles in the bottoms of your pan(s), and grease the sides (I used 2, 9" round baking tins)

Combinaciones
1. In a large bowl, beat 4 eggs until they're a little frothy (about immediately after you turn on mixer)
2. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar to eggs and beat until it turns pale yellow and the sugar is mostly dissolved
3. Slowly add in 3/4 cup oil mixing the entire time
4. Add in vanilla
5. Add sifted ingredients and stir until just combined (batter will be lumpy)
6. Fold in carrots and optional nuts/raisins
7. dump it into cake pans and bake for about 25-30 mins
8. Cool cakes on a rack before frosting with, what else...

Cream Cheese Frosting
8oz cream cheese
4 Tbspn butter
2 cups powdered sugar

1. Whip all ingredients together, stick it in fridge until cakes cool
2. Frost cake
3. Give half of cake to sister and her family so you don't eat it all

Please Note: If you use fat free cream cheese (it was all I had at the time), the frosting turns into more of a glaze...
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*Yes, ski-pants are worn OVER the skirt and kneesocks. (And shorts are worn UNDER the skirt- it gets drafty and some boys take any opportunity to look up your dress.)

**Another fun fact about the Ancient Greeks, they're reputed to have had a glass/ceramic dildo making factory***

***Bet you weren't expecting that as a footnote.