Aunty Freda's Carrot Cake

My mother who is visiting walked me through this recipe. My mother makes this cake quite regularly and learned the recipe from her sister, Freda. Aunty Freda usually makes it on the stove, using a large pan with a base layer of sand, places the baking pan on the layer of sand and then covers the whole thing to create a mini oven. I guess this method is great if you don't have an oven or if your oven breaks down. I tried it using my regular oven.

This cake is not your super sweet or rich carrot cake. Its more heartyish kind of like carrot cake loaf. I made this cake as my contribution for a picnic. It was a great hit and I got a lot of requests for the recipe!

Ingredients:

2 cups and 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
2 cups of sugar (I used 1 and 1/3 cup of refined sugar and 2/3 cup of brown sugar, this was not premeditated! Because of this, as suggested by mother I added about 2 tablespoons of milk to make the batter thinner)
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups shredded carrots (My Mom and Aunt use grated carrots)
4 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon baking Soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Oil for greasing 2 square pans
A pinch of salt

Method:

Grease baking pans and dust with flour. Mix flour, sugar, nuts, dates, carrots, salt and allspice. Add oil to beaten eggs and then mix with dry ingredients. Stir together till batter is consistent. Let mixture soak together for a hour. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees about ten minutes before baking. Right before baking, add baking powder and soda and mix together till incorporated. Pour into baking pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or till the top is brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Take out, cool (if you can wait!) and enjoy at room temperature.