Clever Carrot Cake with Custardy Cream Cheese Icing

I used this recipe to make cupcakes this past Easter weekend. Easy Peasy - Spicy and delish.

Here we go!

1½ cups grated carrot

1⅓ cups sugar

1⅓ cups water
1 cup raisins

¼ cup shortening

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp nutmeg

Bring the above to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Let cool for at least 10 minutes

Then add:

2 cups of flour

1 tsp of baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup chopped nuts

Bake at 375 degrees in a prepared pan for 50 minutes.

For the icing I came up with the following cream cheese recipe - but I'm sure you have your own.

2 cups icing sugar

¼ cup custard powder

½ cup soft butter

½ a brick of cream cheese. 4 ounces - I think.

1 tsp of vanilla

½ tsp lemon flavouring (optional)

couple of drops of yellow food colouring although the custard powder does lend its own hue.

This recipe makes a heavy carrot cake. You'll love the aroma as the carrots and the spices simmer.Clean up is a breeze.

As per usual, I forgot to take any pictures. The above is from Wiki and was taken by David Benbennick.