Prison sucks. Except for one thing, apparently: On Rikers Island there's this legendary cake. It's a delicious carrot cake. Here is the recipe, which the Times has printed, because if there's anything good about prison we want it too.

According to the Times' City Room, everyone loves the carrot cake: "When the cafeteria serves it, inmates frequently ask for seconds. It's also not unusual for correction officers in other facilities ask for the cake..." Make the cake along with these White House snack bars, then wash it down with the elaborate Margarita recipe a random person sent us for a strange culinary cross-section of the American experience:

Rikers Island Carrot Cake

25 pounds sugar

3 gallons vegetable oil

25 pounds flour

8 ounces salt

1 pound baking powder

8 ounces baking soda

6 ounces nutmeg

6 ounces allspice

4 ounces clove powder

4 ounces ginger

8 ounces cinnamon

25 pounds carrots

25 pounds eggs

8 pounds walnuts

20 pounds raisins

8 ounces vanilla extract

1. Place in a mixing bowl – sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove powder, allspice, baking powder, baking sods, salt. Using a paddle mix on slow for five minutes.

2. Add raisins, carrots, walnuts, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract mix on slow speed for an additional five minutes.

3. Increase speed to medium for 10 minutes.

4. Pour into loaf pans. Pans should be three-quarters full.

5. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

Each batch makes 25 loaves of carrot cake.

Hope you really like carrot cake!