(From Joanne Fluke’s “Carrot Cake Murder.”)

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4cup sour cream (or unflavored yogurt)

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoons salt

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, juice and all

2 cups chopped walnuts (or pecans)

2-1/2 cups flour

2 cups grated carrots, packed down

Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan and set it aside.

Beat the sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Mix in the sour cream (or yogurt.) Add the baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix them in thoroughly.

Add the can of crushed pineapple (including the liquid) and the chopped nuts to your bowl. Mix them in thoroughly.

Add the flour by half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.

Mix in the carrots BY HAND. Grated carrots tend to get caught on the beaters of electric mixers.

Spread the batter in your prepared cake pan and bake it at 350°F for 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted one inch from the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the cake pan on a wire rack. When it’s completely cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting while it’s still in the pan.