I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter and eating delicious foods and lots of goodies. I feel as though I only eat a real meal on holidays. The other 300 some odd days of the year are spent picking through old takeout boxes and settling for hot rubber in a bottle that is packaged and labeled as "cheese".
But I'm sure you homemakers out there cook your families hot, tasty meals more than once in a lifetime. Which is more than I can say for myself. One day I will conquer the kitchen, but today is not that day.
Although hot meals are not my specialty, my grandmother did raise me to prioritize the art of baking. So, even though I should be spending the little time I have allotted for "minutes spent in the kitchen" on brewing up Roasted Salmon with Spicy Cauliflower, I prefer to bake something for late night study sessions and "I'M STRESSED OUT" moments, that commonly occur when you are a nursing student.
Now, I know that this time of year you are bombarded with carrot cake recipes from Pinterest and fellow bloggers, but let me share a secret with you. If your recipe doesn't have pineapple and nuts in it, I'm not sure you can really call it carrot cake.
Here is my Aunt Kathy's "Don't Pass Me Up Carrot Cake".
Don't Pass Me Up Carrot Cake:
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups oil
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2.5 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
8 oz can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 carrots, grated
2 cups flaked coconut
Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Combine sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Blend flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking powder in a separate bowel. Add the flour mixture to the sugar and oil mixture. Combine well. Fold the carrots, coconut, pineapple and nuts into the mixture. Pour the batter into a well greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Use a toothpick to test the cake for doneness. For the frosting, blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until creamy then add the powdered sugar.
*If you would like to make cupcakes, half the recipe. This will yield 24 cupcakes. I still made the entire batch of frosting to cover my half batch of cupcakes, and I didn't regret it.
* You can never have too much frosting!
*Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check for doneness.
* Carrot cake is easy to burn, always insert a toothpick 5 minutes before your cake is supposed to be done to make sure your efforts yield a moist cake.
*Also sometimes I add a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg to my frosting to tie in with the carrot cake, try it and see how you like it.
This is a really nice party idea. I'm giving this a try for my daughter's birthday.
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