A few months ago I was given the honor to make the birthday cake for Javier’s 87 year old grandmother. I browsed my various cookbooks and favorite recipe websites looking for just the right special cake until my taste bud memory reminded me of one of the most special cakes of all – the carrot cake! How could I have forgotten this great standby? Well, it seems to be missing here in Buenos Aires even though all of the ingredients are here and it’s a really easy cake to make.

But I must admit, when I said that I was going to make a carrot cake for the birthday party, everyone seemed to say the same thing, “No! Cake with carrots? That’s disgusting!” And then they tried it. (Well, most of them at least). Javier’s mother was so scared that “Gina’s cake of carrot” would be such a disaster that she made a backup cake.

Well, come to think of it, using carrots in a cake does seem odd, but in the ‘Oxford Companion to Food’, author Alan Davidson suggests that carrots were used as far back as the Middle Ages in European cakes when other sweeteners were hard to find or just too expensive. This makes sense since the carrots (along with the beet) contain voluminous quantities of natural sugars.

So for those of you who forgot about the spiced carrot cake or even if you’re just looking for a good recipe to try – there are a million recipes online for you to try.  Just start baking.  This is dedicated to my very special and very pregnant friend, Flor.  Thanks!

Look at her go!

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