Vermont Maple Carrot Cake

My sisters and I recently visited my parents. My middle sister, Courtney, brought me some goodies from New England--maple syrup! It reminded me that I have a little cookbook that we purchased when we visited Vermont several years ago. It features recipes that all include maple syrup. I was flipping through it the other day and telling Charles some of the recipes that sounded good. One of which was carrot cake and he asked if I would make it.

Vermont Maple Carrot Cake

Ingredients

Cake
4 eggs
1 cup maple syrup (Dark Amber or B is preferable)
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sour cream
1 T lemon juice (I didn't have any, so I used 3 drops of my lemon essential oil)
2 t vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1/2 t salt
1 T baking powder
2 t cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots

Cream Cheese Frosting
8oz cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup butter, room temp
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat eggs on high speed until frothy. Add next 5 ingredients and beat together another minute. Combine flour, nuts, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Add liquids to dry ingredients. Fold in carrots. Pour into slightly greased bundt pan.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick emerges clean. (I didn't need to bake that long. I could smell that it was done and took it out early. You might want to check it with 30 minutes to go just to make sure). Cool in pan until easy to handle. Frost when cool with cream cheese frosting.

To make frosting, cream together cream cheese and butter with mixer on high. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add powdered sugar and beat until you have your desired consistency.