Carrot cake drei.

Don't ask me why am I baking carrot cake again. I think this is the 2nd time I am baking it within weeks.  The plan is to sell it actually. So I am baking my famous carrot cake ( okay kidding.) for the folks at my parent's office. Which could be a potential business opportunity. I know it is totally duh at when baking a bigger cake it takes a longer time for it to be ready. But this cake sure took its time to get ready. I think I nearly baked it for an hour at 170 degrees and even then it did not feel 'cooked'. I took it out anyways because the sides were done already and its only the middle portion thats still not ready yet and I was afraid that the top might burn. 

I also realised the importance of having an oven with consistent heat. Well my parents would not have think that I am really that interested in baking. So we ended up getting an average oven that has some issue with heat management. 

Carrots are really huge and cheap at cold storage to my surprise. 

Walnuts in the carrot cake adds dimension to the texture of the cake. 

Tadah! For sale anyone? 

I am still using the same recipe for this carrot cake and without fail, the result is definitely satisfactory. 

Carrot cake Zwei!

Finally have some time to bake again and i've decided to bake carrot cake for the Tan family because they have yet to try my carrot cake proper yet. I particularly like this recipe because every time I bake with this recipe (well this is my 3rd time baking with this recipe) the results are pretty constant and the texture is pretty good. As usual I made some changes to the sugar especially for the icing. Which is not sweet at all! I thought I should make something small since the serving size estimated by the recipe is 18 people. I half the portions, which I must say turned out to look pretty sad. I think it looked more like a serving for 3/4 people. Heh. I thought I could bake something big so that I could bring some over to my friends tomorrow. 

Practice indeed does makes perfect. Because I think this is one of the best cream cheese icing i've made. Because the sweetness is just nice!  

Today I attempted to use the left over butter cream to decorate my carrot cake. Bought colouring a few days ago and was so eager to draw out carrots. But my carrot leaves are orange as well because I could not find blue colouring and bought violet instead thinking that thats the closes colour, hence its possible to use as a substitute for blue. Things did not work out as you could see. Before I could finish decorating the cake my sister wanted to try a slice. Hence the incomplete cake. *Needs really good imagination to see the carrots! Try harder if you cant see it. 

Up close.

Serves 12 

Adapted from allrecipe's carrot cake. 

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
•  
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1-3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in walnuts. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Carroty

Food is important and coming from singapore I tend to take food for granted. I live to eat. Its not to say that I am great at the fine art of culinary. I eat everything, well most stuff and I like to try stuff. Wish my tummy could be a bottomless pit. I like baking, not really because I like to eat cake or muffins, (Savory dishes goes much better with my tummy and chocolate of course) but because I like how people enjoy what I make. Its because I have been useless for the past few months, having people appreciate what i bake makes me feel slightly better.

Since today is a sunday and ah huat's mum and dad is painting the living room I decided to bake carrot cake for the second time ( after my first failed attempt due to some misunderstanding with my oven) for tea. Using this carrot cake recipe. I made some changes to the proportion and would actually suggest much less sugar for the cake. ( I personally am not a big fan of things that are too sweet.) 

This are carrots. Looking all fresh and orange. If only carrots could look this earthy back home.

Glowing carrots.                              Fresh out of the oven.

 

All dolled up carrot cake.



Ready to be eaten