Aunt Juanita’s Carrot Cake: The Manchac Church Cookbook Classic That Uses “Salad Oil”
If you’re from Louisiana, you know the best recipes don’t come from Pinterest. They come from spiral-bound church cookbooks with butter stains on page 17. This is page 17.
Aunt Juanita Schexnayder’s Carrot Cake fed every funeral, wedding and “just because” Sunday in Vacherie for 40 years. It’s not fancy. It’s not “healthy.” It’s salad oil, sugar and enough cream cheese frosting to make you forget your name.
And baby, it’s perfect.
**Why This Isn’t Your Basic Carrot Cake**
1. **“Salad Oil”** – That’s what they called vegetable oil in 1930. It makes the cake stupid moist. Butter dries out. Oil don’t. Aunt Juanita knew.
3. **Maple Frosting** – Not vanilla. MAPLE. With cream cheese. Changes everything.
4. **No Pineapple. No Raisins.** – Fight me. Aunt Juanita said “fruit don’t belong in carrot cake unless it’s frosting.”
**Aunt Juanita’s Carrot Cake Recipe**
*From the kitchen of Mrs. Juanita Schexnayder, Vacherie, Louisiana*
**Serves:** 16-20 church ladies or 8 Pawpaws
**Cake Ingredients:**
- 2 c. finely grated carrots
- 2 c. sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1½ c. salad oil *vegetable oil*
- ½ c. chopped nuts *pecans – this is Louisiana*
- 3 c. flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt
**Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:**
- 1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened *8 oz works too*
- 1 c. confectioners sugar
- Milk *optional, to thin*
- Chopped nuts for top
- Coconut for top *optional but Aunt Juanita did it*
**Instructions:**
**Step 1: Make the Cake**
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease + flour a 10-inch tube pan. Don’t skip flour or it’ll stick and you’ll cry.
2. Combine carrots, sugar, eggs, salad oil, and ½ c. chopped nuts. Beat well. Aunt Juanita used a wooden spoon. You can use a mixer.
3. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Add dry ingredients gradually to carrot mixture. Beat well. Batter will be thick.
5. Pour into buttered pan. Bake at 375°F for 1 hour. Toothpick should come out clean.
6. Cool 10 min in pan, then turn out onto rack. Cool completely before frosting.
**Step 2: Make the Frosting**
1. Blend cream cheese and confectioners sugar until smooth. No lumps. Aunt Juanita would make you start over.
3. If necessary, add a small amount of milk to make mixture of spreading consistency. Aunt Juanita liked hers thick.
4. Spread on cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and coconut.
**Nana’s Notes – Don’t Skip These:
2. **Salad oil = vegetable oil** – Not olive oil. Not coconut oil. Wesson. Crisco oil. 1930's oil.
3. **Room temp cream cheese** – Cold cream cheese = lumpy frosting = Aunt Juanita would not approve.
4. **Don’t overbake** – 1 hour max. Dry carrot cake is a sin. Start checking at 55 min.
5. **Tube pan matters** – Regular 9x13 won’t cook the same. [This is the 10-inch tube pan Nana uses] If you want it to rise like Aunt Juanita’s.
**What to Serve With It:**
- Strong coffee. Community brand. - A glass of milk for the kids. - A fork. That’s it. This cake needs no help.
**Why “Salad Oil” Works Better Than Butter:**
Oil is 100% fat. Butter is 80% fat, 20% water. Water evaporates. Oil stays. That’s why this cake is still moist on day 4. If it lasts that long. Pawpaw ate half of one at a sitting in 1972. Still talks about it.
#CarrotCake #CajunDessert #LouisianaRecipes #VacherieLA #ChurchCookbook #BundtCake #CreamCheeseFrosting #NanaApproved #AuntJuanita #NanaTeeTravels #SouthernBaking
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