carrot cake, not my first!

my first date with carrot cake was in milan, two years ago and it wasnt really a carrot cake.. it was muffin. before that, my opinion about carrot cake was 'YUCK!' carrot is for soup not cake!
i bought my first carrot cake, sorry, muffin in autogrill cafe near pizza duomo, that cafe filled with tourists because simply italian dont drink coffee from autogrill (CMIIW?)
that first bite of carrot muffin and im hooked! the next day, well, the next time we found autogrill cafe, mom bought all the carrot muffins they have. dang! we snacked them all the way from milan to venice. we're saved!
so when i got back home to indonesia, i looked for carrot cake or muffin or whatever in few cafes here in jakarta but frankly, i dont like them, totally hate it! they tasted YUCK YUCK YUCK! time flew and i forgot. but not that total marvelous carrot muffin i had in italy.
then i spent last summer in swansea, wales and had not-so-good-but-quiet-okay carrot cake from a cafe inside debenhams. not-so-good-but-quiet-okay carrot cake is not what i expected, it couldnt cure my love-sick for an autogrill carrot muffin. i was dissapointed.
but nooooo.. this is a happy ending story, dont worry! at the very last minute of my summer holiday, i found the perfect carrot cake, it was from starbucks at dubai airport, i bought the last slice and ate it on plane, HOOKED HOOKED HOOKED!!! it was superb! of course different from the ones i had in italy but equally great! the cream cheese icing was a bit cheesecake-y and the cake was just perfect! i loooved it! that carrot cake was my summer lovin'

first thing i baked after i landed home is a carrot cake, i googled the recipe with 'starbucks carrot cake' as a keyword and guess what? found it! so i made carrot cake with that recipe plus the cream cheese icing. the result? well... it was good, different from any other carrot cake i've tasted, but not great.. for my liking at least because some people gave a good review about that carrot cake.
so the quest continued and i landed in my favorite kitchen, SMITTEN! and she once again score it!! her carrot cake is the great (though not perfect) cake for me and my mom liking, oh have i told you about my mom and her issues? well, i'll tell you about it some other time, just want you to
know.. she's a picky eater, QUEEN OF PICKY EATER gosh, how i hate her!

the cake is dense and moist, more like the one i had from debenhams. this time i skip the icing part just because my mom hate cheese! yes people, she hates cheese! and butter too! weird!
but the most important thing is i finally found the great carrot cake recipe (yet so far) and mom been asking me to bake more. YAY!

carrot cake adapted from smitten kitchen (thank you deb!)
original recipe here

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1 teaspoon of all-spicce
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350&176;F.

Line 24 cupcake molds with papers, or butter and flour them.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time then vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them.

To make a carrot layer cake: Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans instead of cupcake molds. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and bake the layers for about 40 minutes each, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.

i'll make them with raisins and walnuts next time!