Carrot cake isn’t really a dessert. It more like a serving of vegetables. Why yes, vegetables. I mean carrrots help your eyes, fight cancer, and improve the quality of hair, skin , and nails. It’s practically a vitamin… only it tastes like cake. At least that’s what I told myself when I sat down to a heaping slice of this spicy carrot cake and a stack of wedding planning magazines earlier this week.
Spicy Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teasppon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup flour
1 16 ounce bag of baby carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting
16 ounce cream cheese, at room temperature
11/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Prep TIme: 30 minutes
Yields: About 15-20 slices of cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla.
Mix in baking powder, baking soda, allspice, ginger, and salt. The ginger will give your batter just a little kick. Let mixture sit for a few minutes while you work on the carrots…
Load those vitamin filled little carrots into your food processor and shred those puppies.
The tinier the pieces, the less noticeable they will be in the cake. Some like shredded chunks, but I like my carrots incognito. So, small chunks of carrots… about 90 seconds in the food processor.
Return to your batter, only to find it transformed into a nice, fluffy cream.
Next, mix in the flour…
…and the carrots.
Pour the cake batter into greased cake pan. I used a 12X12X3 to get a nice square shape.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes.
Then, gently place pan upside down on a cake plate and gently shake until cake drops onto platter. Let cool for an additional 15 minutes.
While you are waiting, grab your hand mixer and make your icing. In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together for about 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Carefully, frost top of cake. Agonize over the unevenness of the your frosting skills. Moan over the dents and dings. Try to fix it with more frosting. Give up. Run to your computer and sign up for cake decorating classes.
Finally, as dreams of becoming the next cake boss or i am baker prance through your head, cover your frosting failure with pecans. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk.
