Mom's Carrot Cake

There's something about my mom's carrot cake. My Aunt Ione has known it all along -- she always would ask my mom to bring the carrot cake when we'd go down to Milwaukee for Chanukkah or any of my cousins' birthdays... but I guess I never really understood why she loved it so much. I mean, yeah, it's good, but my aunt would honestly sit and eat the entire cake had she no will power.

Tonight, however, I think it finally clicked. See, when I finally got home today (after being in Vegas for the majority of the week with my family for my grandma's 80th birthday and then attempting to return to Minneapolis in a snowstorm - yes, the plane landed on the snowy runway; no, I'm not sure how), I knew I had a bag of carrots in my refrigerator that either needed to be used or tossed. And, with the economy as it is, I decided to forgo wasting and find something to make. Carrot cake cupcakes. I called mom, who sent her recipe for the cake. Turns out the only ingredient I needed was a block of creamcheese for the frosting.

Instead of making the triple layered or 9x13 cake, I opted for cupcakes, as I like them better, and frankly, they offer more portion control. With the addition of one cup raisins, which my mom does not add, I made the cupcakes, creamcheese frosting and all. YUM.

This is one recipe I'll keep between me and mom -- you'll all just have to come over and have a cupcake!