Picnic Carrot Cake

A Great Picnic Cake!

This is a fabulous cake to take on picnics. It 's not crumbly and when the frosting dries, it's not sticky. We love the rich, full flavor that is reminiscent of chuckwagon spice cakes served on old cattle drives. One preparation item to note on this recipe is that it must be started the night before you plan to make it. The carrots, raisins and spices like to get friendly together overnight in the frig. It keeps very well and cuts into nice, clean bars of cake.

This cake is also unusual in that it doesn't have any eggs in it. So, if you run out of eggs and need a cake for Sunday dinner, this is the perfect choice!

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup raisins

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

2 large carrots, grated

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. butter

Combine, sugar, water, raisins, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and carrots in a saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes, cool, and then put in a covered container and refrigerate overnight.

Next day: Mix together flour, salt, soda, baking powder and walnuts. Add this mixture to the refrigerated mixture, stirring well.

Pour into a 9 x 13 inch baking pan sprayed with Pam.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

Icing: Put brown sugar, water and butter together in a saucepan and warm on low heat until sugar dissolves. Pour over the warm cake and then let cool before cutting.

-Debbie-