Two weeks ago, a friend of mine, Jesse Bascle, messaged me that he “had the best story and recipe ever” for this blog. From the message I inferred excitement, and this is unusual for Jesse.

First, I have known Jesse since he was a kid. His mom, Sue Ford and his step-dad, Jimmy Ford, are great friends. Jesse and his brother Jonah, have always been a comedic duo. They are each other’s yin and yang. Jesse the calm cerebral type. Jonah the excitable sarcastic type. Together they have always kept me rolling in laughter. Jonah gets excited about something and makes a joke. Jesse is the calm rebuttal in the background who grounds Jonah.

So when Jesse got excited enough to tell me a story, I knew it had to be good. Before Jesse shares his story and recipe, I want y’all to know that Jesse and Jonah have their own podcast where they discuss sports, life and you can get a sense of their comedy. You can check out the Bascle brothers podcast at the following and it is also available on iTunes:

http://basclebrothers.libsyn.com/

https://www.facebook.com/#!/thebasclebrothers

Lost and Found by Jesse Bascle

When Jonah and I were kids, we would go over to Jimmy’s parents’ house. His mom was Evelyn Ford. She always made a cake for when we went to visit. Most of the time it was a carrot cake. The kind with 3 layers and icing. We loved it. I loved it. It was my favorite. She would always give Jonah and I a fourth of the cake. We had to eat it at her house so she could watch us enjoy it. She knew how much we loved it.

She hardly ever gave her recipes to anyone. Well not that I know of. Only people she cared about or she knew how much they loved what she made. So one time I was over there, and she gave the recipe. Jimmy’s dad worked for the New Orleans RTA (Regional Transit Authority). I am pretty sure he worked the streetcars. So she unfolded this old RTA pink newsletter. The recipe was on the newsletter, and I copied it from her.

I took it home and made it a couple of times. It is so delicious. But then Katrina happened. I thought the recipe was downstairs in the kitchen, and it had been lost with everything else downstairs because of the water. Plus she passed away and then Jimmy’s dad passed away so there was no way I was ever going to see that recipe again. I just thought it was lost forever.

The other day, my mom was cleaning out some things and in this shoebox with a bunch of random stuff was the recipe. I don’t know how it got in the box or where it has been. It has holes and water stains on it, so I don’t know if it was downstairs and somehow survived and got put in the box. Or if it was upstairs in the box all along, but I don’t know how it could have been upstairs. It’s just a mystery. But now after all this time we have Jimmy’s mom’s carrot cake recipe. It is my favorite.

(Note: I asked Jesse if he would photograph the recipe and send it to me. He did and the photo is as follows…)

Evelyn Ford’s Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

for cake:

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

2 cups sifted flour

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup chopped pecans

for the cream cheese frosting:

1 pound powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

8 oz cream cheese

1/8 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

1. Beat sugar & oil until blended

2. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

3. Sift dry ingredients into sugar-oil mixture.

4. Add carrots & pecans, mix well.

5. Grease 3 9-inch cake pans. Batter into pans.

6. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 min.

7. Cool.

8. For icing, beat all ingredients together and ice cake layers.