Sheep Wagon Cake (Carrot Cake) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/3 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup raisins, washed and drained
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon clove
1 cup chopped nuts (for Christmas I use 1/2 cup nuts and 1 cup glazed fruit)
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt (I use 1/2 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preparation

In mid sized sauce pan, put sugar, water, carrots, raisins, butter and spices, bring to boil turn down and simmer five minutes.
Remove from heat, cover and rest for 12 hours, Comment on the recipe \"the secret of this cake is to let the boiled ingredients stand for twelve hours\" I have always followed this step.
Then add the baking soda mixing to dissolve, add the flour, salt and baking powder. Lastly fold in the nuts (if you decide to also add the glazed fruit as I do for the holidays, fold these in as well).
Put the batter into two well greased loaf pans or 1 tube pan -- (as with many of the old recipes I use my judgement on the loaf pans) Have used the 8 1/2 x 4 x 2 1/2. One friend makes these for gifts using a number of small sized loaf pans. I would think it depends on the size loaf you are wanting.
Bake 275 for 2 hours. This may vary from oven to oven.
Cool and wrap -- I like to leave this one mellow a few days before using. Keeps well. Yield depends on serving size but should make for 10 to 12 servings.