Ha Rageel

Note: It has never ceased to amuse Dr. McCoy that Mr. Spock, with all his logical training, cannot consider Ha Rageel a close equivalent to Tufeen Hushani. Actually, to the logical Vulcan mind, a ceremonial wedding cake is quite unrelated to an "everyday" dessert loaf. It is quite true that they contain many of the same ingredients and have a somewhat similar taste. But this no more makes them related than the same number of eyes and legs makes first cousins of horses and dogs. To a cook the difference is also important. Preparing the wedding cake requires time, attention, and care to avoid a minor disaster; with Ha Rageel you can hardly go wrong. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 2-quart ring mold with a little butter. Peel the carrots and grate them. Grate the yellow rind off the lemon, using the coarse set of teeth on your grater. Leave enough of the white inner rind so that you can squeeze the lemon for its juice when you are done grating. Cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is somewhat light colored. Add the eggs, mix well, then add the carrots, lemon juice and rind, water and raisins. In a smaller bowl mix together the dry ingredients, exept the confectioners sugar, and add them to the liquid part a bit at a time. When it is well mixed, pour the batter into the greased mold. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife or skewer stuck into it comes out clean. Let it cool for about 5 minutes, unmold on a serving plate and dust with confectioners sugar. Note: If you dust the plate with a little confectioners sugar before you unmold the cake onto it, the cake will tend to stick to it less.