Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Dollop and Candied Carrots

When I was a kid, carrot cake’s whole wheat–looking crumb, shredded carrot confetti, and tangy, rich frosting seemed like the most sophisticated dessert there was and ever would be. I still have my mom’s recipe for the “Lunchbox Carrot Cake” I enjoyed as a kid in the nineties, written with a blue ballpoint pen on a tattered, water-smudged, tangerine index card. The ingredients and method of her version are different than mine, but the presentation is nearly identical—carrot cake in my house