Carrot Cake

I had a ton of flour, and dry fruits leftover from my christmas cake making saga. I had planned to make another batch of the cake for my friends as this cake is hard to come by in the US, one cannot just go buy it in a store. Anyway I was trying to get myself into a mood to make it, as I had a couple of dinner invitations, and this would make a good hostess gift, as this cake gets better the longer it is stored. But then I skipped the whole idea and decided to make a carrot cake instead after watching Ina Garten's Carrot and Pineapple Cake, here is the recipe, I followed it to the letter except did not use vanilla or cinnamon, as I did not have both of these ingredients.

1 pound carrots
1/2 cup fresh pineapple
2 cups sugar
1/1/3 cups oil
3 extra large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tbsp for mixing with the raisins and flour
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts chopped

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


• Butter 2 cake tins, I used a loaf tin and a 8 inch round tin. Line with parchment paper and butter and flour the tins.



• Grate the carrots using a box grater, do not use a food processor as this will make the cake too wet, and it won't hold it's shape.


• Chop pineapple finely.



• I used a hand mixer, beat the sugar and oil well.



• Add the eggs and beat till until light yellow.



• Sift together, the 21/2 cups flour with garam masala, baking soda, and salt.



• Add to the egg mixture and mix on slow speed.



• Toss the raisins and walnuts with the 1 tbsp of flour.



• Add to the cake mixture


• Then add the carrots and pineapple, stir well.



• Divide between the two pans, lace on a cookie sheet, and bake for 55 to 60 mins according to the recipe.
• But it took me 65 minutes maybe because of the high altitude. Check with a toothpick.


• Once baked place them over a wire rack to cool.


• The cakes were really tender even though the batter felt very heavy and dense while I was mixing it. The cake tasted like carrot muffin, yummy!!!