One of my cousins had been pestering me for months to bake her a carrot cake. She called on Saturday evening to say she was coming over for the next day's hastily organised family reunion (we have them on the spur of the moment). On Sunday morning I found myself with a pantry of ingredients and barely two hours before cousin dear arrived. It must've been the Adrenaline Rush in cramming that made me more adventurous and experimenting on my standard recipe.

What I ended up with were three versions: 1) standard recipe, 2) denser, almost pudding-like carrot loaf and 3) carrot cups.

Taste testing by family members revealed how each version seems to have acquired its own following. (YIKES! Will I be asked to bake the three recipes each time we have a reunion?)

The standard version is what I've refined through the years and I see similar recipes online. It contains the basic 3 cups carrots, 2 cups flour, 4 whole eggs, 1 cup oil, etc. and may or may not contain raisins and nuts. I bake this in two round cake pans and assemble it with frosting like the one pictured above. We usually have this for dessert, some preferring it with tea, coffee or cold beverages.

The pudding-like version is almost the same as the standard version except that I used four instead of three cups of carrots and 1/8 cup more oil. I baked it in a loaf pan and divided it into 1/2 inch slices. Its rich texture doesn't require any frosting and is best refrigerated for at least half a day.

The carrot cups are adapted from the standard recipe but had 1/4 cup more flour and used a cup of white sugar and a cup of brown and had a nice caramel finish. With a glass of milk, the cup cakes make for a good occasional sweet treat for children.

Below is the standard recipe:

Carrot Cake
3 cups grated carrots
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups oil
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt

Optional:
1/4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup raisins, floured

Frosting:
8 oz. (225 g) cream cheese, softened
4 oz. (112.4 g) butter, softened
450 g. confectioners/powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Blend all the wet ingredients - eggs, oil, vanilla - and sugar. Beat until smooth and slightly thick.

Combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt. Blend in the egg mixture and then the carrots, then the raisins and nuts if desired.

Pour batter into greased and floured cake pans (or muffin pans).

For the round cake pans (inches thick) with approximately an inch of batter inside, bake at 350 degrees F for 30-45 mins. For the loaf pan with approximately two inches of batter poured in, bake for almost an hour till golden brown. The cupcakes will only take around 20 minutes in muffin pans. In all cases, check with a tooth pick inserted in the middle of the cake. They're done if it comes out clean.

Frosting:
Combine softened cram cheese and butter, add vanilla. Slowly add confectioners sugar and blend until firm.

A small amount of chopped nuts can be folded in if desired. I, however, only sprinkle some on the assembled cake as embellishment.