Helen’s Carrot Cake

We requested this recipe in 2005 from our sister-in-law, Pauline, after tasting this deliciously sweet cake at a family gathering. It originated years ago in the kitchen of Helen Addison, Pauline’s mom. Helen wrote, “I hate giving this recipe away because then you see how simple it is to make!!”

Helen’s Carrot Cake

Cake Batter – Ingredients and Preparation

  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 ½ cups salad oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 3 cups finely grated carrots
  • Handful of raisins
  • Grease and flour 13 x 9 x 2” Pyrex cake pan.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Blend oil and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • In another bowl, sift salt, cinnamon, flour and baking soda.  Add the sifted ingredients to the  egg mixture and stir until they are thoroughly incorporated. 
  • Add the carrots and raisons and mix to blend thoroughly.
  • Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1.25 hours (check after an hour as it may be long enough).
  • Let cake cool, remove from pan and frost when cold.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients and Preparation

  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 4 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1-pound confectioner’s sugar
  • Beat cream cheese until it is light and fluffy.
  • Gradually add the melted butter, beating until it is completely absorbed.  Add the vanilla and sugar, beating well after each addition so that frosting is smooth.
 Cream Cheese Frosting – Get your finger out of that bowl!

Frosting the Carrot Cake

  • Once the Carrot Cake has cooled to room temperature you can turn the cake onto a tray, or just leave it in the pan.
  • Spread frosting slowly until you have a layer across the entire cake and avoid breaking up the surface of the cake, then continue frosting to make a nice thick layer.
Helen’s Carrot Cake, So Delicious!

4th Annual Hunt Christmas Cook Off!

2018 Family Christmas Picture

Merry Christmas! Once again we had our Annual Christmas Cook Off – This tradition started out as a fun way to get everyone’s involvement in meal preparation when we rented a cottage near Traverse City, MI, between Christmas and New Years a few years back. Throw in some prize money and everyone loved the idea.

‘This years cook off had each couple prepare three dishes, typically an appetizer, entrée and a dessert, but not required. We kicked it up a notch this year and added a theme/specialty drink from each of the teams. After all the dishes are prepared (sort of, some still in preparation) each type of dish would be presented by all the teams to the other participants and voted on for taste/aroma and appearance/presentation. Leigh’s mom (Grandma) did not participate in the preparation, but was a highly sought after vote in the competition.

The voting was done after all dishes and drinks were tasted. We have a slightly over complicated score sheet, that is then entered into a spreadsheet and tabulated to determine the winner for each category and the overall winner. This year, it was yet another close competition with the difference in scoring being less than five points between 1st place and 4th.

Enough talk… here are some pictures of the dishes and all of us enjoying Christmas Eve 2018 together.

The Teams

Tom & Leigh Hunt (T&L)
Thom & Erica Hunt (T&E)
Nathan & Libby Boot (N&L)
  John Hunt & Abby Miller (J&A)

The Appetizer Round!

The Entrée Round

Dessert Time!

Specialty Theme Drink!

We hope that you enjoyed this post and we will be sharing some of these recipes in the weeks and months to come. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!