Carrot Rum Cake

O.k., yes, I know, I KNOW, it's torture!! Why do I do this to myself? Why make such a pretty cake when I can't even try it? Maybe I'm testing my self control, my will-power, maybe I just simply hate myself. Nah, none of the above, just felt like baking! It was raining on Saturday here in Scottdsale and it was a PERFECT day to bake something warm, bake something that would make my house smell like cinnamon and spice instead of bleach and dirty diapers. So, my fellow friends and bloggers, here is Jen's Carrot Rum Cake. Two words, "it's good!" - I would have said, "it's great" but Tony the Tiger already has that one down pat.

Whatcha need:

3 cuts of grated carrots
1/2 cup of light brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of veggie oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of crushed pineapple, drained well
1 1/2 cup of white flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1 jar of cream cheese frosting
2 teaspoons of imitation rum flavoring extract

optional:

1 teaspoon of all-spice
1 teaspoon of nutmeg

I did it old school and by hand, grated 3 cups of carrots.

Once grated, add your brown sugar and mix well.

Add 1 teaspoon of your rum flavoring, mix well. Let carrots sit in sugar and rum for 45 minutes. Once the 45 minutes is up, drain any extra liquid into a seperate bowl (save fluid should you need to add some to the bread mix for extra flavor).

Lightly beat your eggs in a bowl.

Add your sugar to the eggs.

Add your oil now.

Add your vanilla.

Beat it, BEAT it REALLY good, o.k., don't beat it TOO much, just lightly to encooperate everything.

Take your crushed pineapple (remember to drain ALL liquids) and put it into the egg mix and stir well.

Add flour now.

Now the baking soda.

Let's not forget the salt.

Add your cinnamon.

If you have it, add your all-spice and nutmeg. If you don't have it, no worries...it will STILL taste great.

Once your egg mix is stirred up well, add the carrots (remember to drain the liquids in another bowl). Once you add the carrots, take 2 tablepoons of the carrot juice you drained and add it back into the mix.Add the nuts!

I use a loaf pan. Put your batter in a loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until the center is done, I used a butter knife to see if the center was done.

Once your loaf is done cooking, the top might be a little crisp, so slice it off and put your loaf on a plate, top down, get ready to ice the baby.

I didn't have time to make homemade icing so I used cream cheese frosting and added rum to it- I was told, "it was da bomb!".

Ice the carrot cake, decorate it, do whatever you want with it, just make sure to enjoy it!