Carrot Cake

I will start off this post by apologizing that I have no pictures of today's recipe.  It's not like me to forget, but I think you will understand the situation when I explain!

It was Wednesday night of the last week of school.  Thursday was going to be Kenzie's and my last day at school, since the last day fell on a Friday which also happened to be the golf tournament.  We were frantically writing out thank you cards to people that we won't be seeing again till the end of August, and talking about how good so many people were to us in the last two terrible months.  That's when I mentioned that I had thought about baking something to leave in the office (teachers love baked goods in the office) but by now it was 9:00 at night.  However, Kenz loved the idea, and somehow I settled on the idea of making a carrot cake.  I had made carrot cake before , but that recipe was a three-layer cake, and for this one, I wanted a sheet cake (for ease of transport!).  When I Googled carrot sheet cake, I found the Pioneer Woman's recipe, and since she is usually very trustworthy, I decided at 9 PM to make two carrot sheet cakes : one for work, and one because my mom informed me that it was cruel to make one of her favorite cakes and take it away!

The good news was that it came together pretty quickly, with the use of my food processor to grate 2 cups of carrots.  Once I got the batter done, it was time to pour it into 2 separate sheet cake pans.  This was harder to do than I thought, and I think I shortchanged my family's cake because it ended up being a lot thinner than the school cake!  But then into the oven they went, and I could focus on making the cream cheese frosting.  Although I doubled the recipe, I did not double the amount of sugar, because I thought that 2 pounds of confectionary sugar was wayyyyy too much.  I am not sure how much I used, but I don't think I even used one pound.  I taste tested along the way and when it tasted fabulous, I considered that done enough!  The recipe asks for pecans to be mixed in, but in case anyone at work had nut allergies, I left them out.  I did sprinkle some on top of our cake for home.

Since by this point it was way past my bedtime, I frosted the cakes way before they were cool, had Mom slice up the work one for me, and headed to bed.  In the morning, I brought the cake in to the office and left a card from me and Kenz.  When I had my prep time at 11:00, I wandered down to see how it was going, and there were only 2 pieces left!  Almost the whole thing had gone in about 3 hours.  I told you, teachers love baked goods in the office!  I got 3 emails requesting the recipe, and lots of rave reviews.  So, I never actually tried the cake, but if we let my coworkers vouch for the cake, it must have been good :)

Recipe:

carrot cake
from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:
FOR CAKE:
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 whole eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots

FOR ICING:
1 stick butter, softened
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1 pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix together the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl.  In another bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Add to the first mixture and combine. Then add carrots and mix well.  Pour into a greased and floured pan (Bundt, sheet cake, or 9 x 13" pyrex)  and bake until done, 25 minutes (sheet cake) to 50 (bunt), depending on the type of pan you used.

3) Cool completely, then ice.

To make icing:
In large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese.  Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in nuts.  Spread on cooled carrot cake.

Carrot Cake

With this belated post, I will finally be done sharing all the recipes I made for the football party last week!  Sorry it is so late: Dad was sick, and then I was sick, and I am just now starting to feel like a human enough to discuss baked goods.

Anyway, I told Kenzie and Mom to choose a dessert for the party.  I already had plans to make all the things I have posted this past week, but I had nothing sweet in mind.  Kenzie weirdly decided on a carrot cake.  I say weirdly because carrot cake really doesn't scream Kenzie.  Oreos?  Yes.  Gummies? Definitely. Carrot cake, not so much.  But hey, she and Mom were excited, so I agreed.

Luckily I had my food processor to help me grate the carrots, since it calls for 2 3/4 cups grated carrots!  That made this recipe pretty quick.  The cake is spiced with ginger and nutmeg, and flecked with carrot and pecan.  And it's pretty tall: you make three layers and frost it all with cream cheese frosting.  Note about the frosting: the recipe weirdly calls for 2 pounds of sugar.  I thought that was ridiculous and so I used maybe a fourth of that.  I kept adding little bits and tasting it until it was just right.  Yeah, it was a tough job to taste test all that frosting, but somebody had to do it ;)

The end result was a huge hit.  Everyone loved it, and that is pretty special for a party of about 10 people!  In fact, Tracy said she doesn't even like carrot cake, but she loved this one.  Mom may or may not have eaten multiple pieces every day until it was gone.  I had a piece myself, and though I am not a cake person, it was pretty good.  The cake was spicy and sweet, and the cream cheese frosting might just be the best tasting stuff on earth.  The idea of pressing chopped pecans into the frosting on the sides of the cake is rather great because it makes the cake look so pretty - rare, for something I baked!

And so, while I had my doubts about a carrot cake being the sole dessert at a football party, I now am a believer in the power of the carrot.

Recipes:

carrot cake
from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 3/4 cups)
• 2 cups pecans (1 cup finely chopped for batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for decorating sides of cake)
• 1 recipe cream cheese frosting (see below)
• 
  
• Directions:
• 
  
• 1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
• 
  
• 2) Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans.
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• 3) Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.  Meanwhile, make the frosting (see below).
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• 4) Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes (mine were actually flat enough so I got to skip this step). Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving (I did not do this!)

cream cheese frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (16 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
• 2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted (*NOTE: I used far, far less than 2 pounds of sugar.  I thought that was insane.  I maybe used a cup, maybe a little more, and just tasted it every now and then.  I thought it was perfect, so make sure you test as you go!)
• 
  
• Directions:
• 1) In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and vanilla until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. With mixer on medium speed, gradually add butter, beating until incorporated.
• 
  
• 2) Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add sugar, beating until incorporated.