My mother found this recipe in my Great-Grandmother's box, typed on a 3x5 card with a couple of hand-written notes added later. It is dated 1967. This carrot cake is quite good, maybe the best I've ever had. That says a lot since I'm not a huge carrot cake fan! There are no nuts or raisins in this cake, although you can always throw some in if you like them.
3 Cups peeled and finely Grated Carrots (Grandma Minnie ground them with a hand-crank food grinder; I grate them mine with a microplane, you can use a food processor if you wish). Grate them and set aside to be added last.
2 1/3 Cups All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
4 whole eggs, beaten well
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 Cups White Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Vegetable Oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease (or line with parchment) three 6" or two 9" pans (or three 8" pans will work fine, the layers will just be a little thinner).
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, vanilla, sugar and oil and stir well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until thoroughly blended. Stir in the carrots last and mix well.
Spoon the batter into the pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes.
I do not use the icing recipe that comes with this, I use a standard Cream Cheese Frosting or American Buttercream (or even seven-minute icing sometimes). But the original recipe for the icing is so retro that I feel I just have to post it here! It is as follows:
8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 Cube Butter or margarine (I assume she meant 1 stick)
1 Box (1 lb) Powdered sugar
1 Cup Coconut
1 Cup chopped nuts
Mix thoroughly and spread onto and between layers.
