This Chamorro carrot cake recipe from my Nina is devine. You will love this cake as it has plenty of cinnamon, some pineapple, walnuts and raisins.

DALING'S CHAMORRO CARROT CAKE

My nina, Soledad “Daling” Quinene, makes the best carrot cake. Her mom, Natividad Ignacio, gave her the recipe. Nina and Nino had big Thanksgiving parties in South Carolina. The three dishes I looked forward to were deer kelaguen, teriyaki deer and Nina’s carrot cake. It is dark, divine and delicious! I actually prefer this recipe without the frosting.

Nina says the pineapple, walnuts and raisins are optional, however I don't remember eating her carrot cake without the options. The picture above includes all the goodies! If you omit the pineapple, check the cake to see if it is done around 40 minutes.

The cake should be cut 10 pieces on the long and 6 pieces on the short because it is quite filling and rich.

from a fan: "I have to tell you, I made the carrot cake over the weekend and OMG! OMG! It was mmmmm yummmy! I made some slight changes just because it was what I had on hand (cranberry dry fruit, because I was too lazy to go store hopping to find raisins, & the raisins they did have at one grocery store was a really really big container (3lbs) and I really did not want to store that much raisins. It is not something I use often. And then I had about 1/2 cup of shredded carrots left (because I did not want to waste it) I folded the carrots into my coolwhip/cream cheese topping. That was so yummy too!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!"

INGREDIENTS

Set 1

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Set 2

1 1/3 c. vegetable oil

4 whole eggs, room temp.

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. cinnamon (yes, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon)

1 – 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple (drained in a colander for 10 minutes)

Set 3

2 c. grated carrots (use the medium sized hole, not the small)

Set 4

½ cup hand-chopped walnuts (not the finely chopped walnuts in a bag….get the walnut halves or pieces, then coarsely chop with a knife)

½ cup raisins

Set 5

1 – 8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temp.

2 – 8 oz. tubs of Cool Whip, cold but not frozen (thaw in the fridge)

Tools: 1 large bowl, 1 medium bowl, electric beater, rubber spatula, 9 x 13 baking dish, non-stick pan spray

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Mix all the dry ingredients from set 1 together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Beat all of set 2 together in a large bowl with an electric beater.

3. Add the carrots to the bowl of wet ingredients then mix again with beaters.

4. Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and beat, combining thoroughly. The batter may seem kind of fache' or wet, but that is fine.

5. Add the raisins and walnuts, incorporating well with a rubber spatula; scrape the sides of the bowl too.

6. Coat baking dish with non-stick spray.

7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

8. Cool the cake completely.

9. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese.

10. Add all of the Cool Whip and beat together until well combined.

11. Spread over cake. Enjoy........it is super yummy!!!

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