Would you believe me if I told you that I have never had carrot cake? It's true. Growing up, we didn't eat a lot of sweets. My father is allergic to tree nuts, and now so am I. Carrot cake traditionally has a lot of pecans in it, making it pretty much off-limits. The beauty of baking my own cake is that I can omit the nuts. It still turns out just fine, in my book.
And why, in the middle of a pandemic, when we're all supposed to stay home and away from others, did I decide to finally try a carrot cake? Because it sounded delicious. Plus, there are safe ways to share slices with friends - mostly porch drop off. It's a version of ding-dong-ditch that results in the target receiving goodies rather than a few moments of wondering if they're starting to lose those precious few mental faculties they have left. I really don't have to hit the doorbell and run away to hide, I can just hit the doorbell and run 6 feet away - it gives me a chance to catch up with the target (or recipient in this case) face-to-face instead of over video call or a regular phone call - and safely. I also ended up with 2 bags of carrots, and while I don't mind carrots I also don't relish the idea of eating 2 bags of them raw.
This recipe not only was a cake from scratch, but homemade cream cheese frosting. I honestly stopped buying frosting at the store years ago. I learned how to make buttercream and cream cheese frosting and there was no going back. There really are no words to accurately describe the difference between freshly made frosting and the shelf-stable kind that comes in a can. I'm not being judgmental towards those who use the store-bought kind. I get it. But, if you're in the group of people who have never made your own frosting, do yourself a favor and give it a try. It's as simple as putting the ingredients into a bowl and running a stand mixer.
The first task I had was to turn the whole carrots into grated carrots. This is easier said than done. I made an absolute mess. It's the next morning and I'm still finding bits of grated carrot in my kitchen. I promise I cleaned up two, maybe three times. It wasn't physically straining, but it was slightly time consuming. The good news is I only almost grated my knuckles once. I now have a new-found appreciation for the bags of grated carrots I can just pick up in the store.
The cake recipe was fairly straightforward. Nothing more complicated than other cakes I've made. My biggest challenge was figuring out how to divide the batter among 3 pans - and do so evenly.
The pans wouldn't all fit on one rack, so I placed two on the upper rack and one on the lower rack. Halfway through the baking, I swapped the positions of the pans. It was about here that I realized I forgot the cinnamon. Well, no fixing that mistake at this point. They still smelled amazing.
I decided while I was swapping the pans around that they didn't need the all of the remaining time to bake, so I shorted them about 5 minutes. The layers turned out beautifully. They weren't full layers, but the cake wasn't dense or dry. I let the layers cool, enjoyed some dinner, and returned to the kitchen to make the frosting and frost the cake.
This recipe called for a full pound of confectioners' sugar. That set my teeth on edge just thinking about how sweet it would be. I generally don't measure out the sugar or the vanilla when I'm making frosting. I've found that frosting recipes are extremely forgiving. I just mix it up and taste as I go.
It turned out delicious. So, I set out to frost the cake. First between the layers, then on the top layer, and finally the sides. I ran out of frosting halfway through doing the sides, so I had to make another half-batch. I'm not a professional at frosting cake, but I didn't do too badly with this one.
Finally, I was at the hardest part of this whole recipe. The notes at the beginning of the recipe said it's best to make it the day before serving, as it's easier to cut the next day. So, all of that hard work had to wait until today. I spent the evening longingly staring at it whenever I returned to the kitchen for more water. I sighed forlornly as I sipped my water, admiring the beauty I had created. I went to sleep and dreamed of cutting into this delicacy I so lovingly made.
....the wait was totally worth it.
And why, in the middle of a pandemic, when we're all supposed to stay home and away from others, did I decide to finally try a carrot cake? Because it sounded delicious. Plus, there are safe ways to share slices with friends - mostly porch drop off. It's a version of ding-dong-ditch that results in the target receiving goodies rather than a few moments of wondering if they're starting to lose those precious few mental faculties they have left. I really don't have to hit the doorbell and run away to hide, I can just hit the doorbell and run 6 feet away - it gives me a chance to catch up with the target (or recipient in this case) face-to-face instead of over video call or a regular phone call - and safely. I also ended up with 2 bags of carrots, and while I don't mind carrots I also don't relish the idea of eating 2 bags of them raw.
This recipe not only was a cake from scratch, but homemade cream cheese frosting. I honestly stopped buying frosting at the store years ago. I learned how to make buttercream and cream cheese frosting and there was no going back. There really are no words to accurately describe the difference between freshly made frosting and the shelf-stable kind that comes in a can. I'm not being judgmental towards those who use the store-bought kind. I get it. But, if you're in the group of people who have never made your own frosting, do yourself a favor and give it a try. It's as simple as putting the ingredients into a bowl and running a stand mixer.
The first task I had was to turn the whole carrots into grated carrots. This is easier said than done. I made an absolute mess. It's the next morning and I'm still finding bits of grated carrot in my kitchen. I promise I cleaned up two, maybe three times. It wasn't physically straining, but it was slightly time consuming. The good news is I only almost grated my knuckles once. I now have a new-found appreciation for the bags of grated carrots I can just pick up in the store.
The cake recipe was fairly straightforward. Nothing more complicated than other cakes I've made. My biggest challenge was figuring out how to divide the batter among 3 pans - and do so evenly.
The pans wouldn't all fit on one rack, so I placed two on the upper rack and one on the lower rack. Halfway through the baking, I swapped the positions of the pans. It was about here that I realized I forgot the cinnamon. Well, no fixing that mistake at this point. They still smelled amazing.
I decided while I was swapping the pans around that they didn't need the all of the remaining time to bake, so I shorted them about 5 minutes. The layers turned out beautifully. They weren't full layers, but the cake wasn't dense or dry. I let the layers cool, enjoyed some dinner, and returned to the kitchen to make the frosting and frost the cake.
This recipe called for a full pound of confectioners' sugar. That set my teeth on edge just thinking about how sweet it would be. I generally don't measure out the sugar or the vanilla when I'm making frosting. I've found that frosting recipes are extremely forgiving. I just mix it up and taste as I go.
It turned out delicious. So, I set out to frost the cake. First between the layers, then on the top layer, and finally the sides. I ran out of frosting halfway through doing the sides, so I had to make another half-batch. I'm not a professional at frosting cake, but I didn't do too badly with this one.
Finally, I was at the hardest part of this whole recipe. The notes at the beginning of the recipe said it's best to make it the day before serving, as it's easier to cut the next day. So, all of that hard work had to wait until today. I spent the evening longingly staring at it whenever I returned to the kitchen for more water. I sighed forlornly as I sipped my water, admiring the beauty I had created. I went to sleep and dreamed of cutting into this delicacy I so lovingly made.
....the wait was totally worth it.
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