Kitchen Sink Carrot Cake

Pour 1 cup Myers Dark Rum into a small bowl. Add raisins and allow to soak for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F). Lightly grease (I recommend Pam Baking Spray with flour) a 9″ x 13″ pan if making a cake, or line your muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Toast nuts and coconut either in a skillet, or in the oven. Just put them in a dry skillet over medium heat until they start to brown a bit. Do not leave these items alone while toasting, they will go from toasted to burnt in a few seconds. Let each one cool.

Grate carrots and put aside.

Beat the eggs, sugars and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until smooth, about two minutes at medium speed. Mix the melted butter with the oil. With the beater running, add the oil mixture into the creamed mixture in a stream, beating until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, leaveners (baking soda and powder), salt, and spices. Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring to make a smooth batter. Stir in your add-ins, in this case the carrots, nuts, coconut, ginger and drained raisins.
Spoon the batter into the cake pan or cupcake liners.

Bake the cake for 40 to 50 minutes until the cake is golden brown. For cupcakes, 20 to 25 minutes. Or in either case – until a cake tester (toothpick in my case) comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Pull the butter and cream cheese for the frosting from the refrigerator. After the cake or cupcakes has/have cooled, make the frosting. Combine the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and salt in a medium sized bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, beating well. Add the milk a little at a time, until the frosting is a spreadable consistancy. If you get it a little too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar.

Spread frosting on cake. Garnish with additional toasted coconut, sprinkles, or whatever you like!