Carrot Cake

With the cold weather my vehicle would not start so I'm been home bound for since Saturday.  Tried again today and it would not start even with the temperature getting above zero so decided it was time to call my local dealer.  Until then to improve my disposition, I'm making carrot cake.  Ya, that's the ticket.  That will surely make things better.  I'm sharing an anything-you-want-it-to be-cake.  You can make it a carrot cake, pumpkin, squash or sweet potato.  When you can't get out, just look at what you have in the pantry.  I had carrots.

2 cups flour

3 cups of pureed carrots (about 8 or 9 large pureed carrots)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting (Recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish.

Peel, cut and boil your carrot in just enough water to cover them.  Do not use those small pre-peeled carrots.  They have been treated with chemicals and you don’t need that in your cake or in you.  When they are soft let them cool.  Put the carrots and their water in your blender and blend them to like a baby food.  Set aside.  If you want to skip this part, just buy 3 jars baby food. 

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in the bowl and blend until well mixed.

Combine the sugar, brown sugar, eggs, pureed carrots and oil.  Add your flour mixture and blend until smooth.  Fold in the walnuts.

Pour into the prepared cake pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes at 350 °.  Test with a tooth pick.

Frost with cream cheese frosting after cake has cooled completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces whipped cream cheese

2 tbs. butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tbs. milk or cream

2 cups powdered sugar

¼ tsp. nutmeg (optional but makes this even better)

Sit your butter and cheese out so they are at room temperature.  Combine the cream cheese and butter.  I use a hand mixer until blended. Add the vanilla, milk and beat until combined. With the speed on low, add the powdered sugar in batches and beat until smooth.

Place the frosting in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes before using.  Frost the cake.

Variation – This recipe can be turned into pumpkin cake by simply replacing the carrots with a can of 15 oz. pumpkin puree (Make sure it is not the pumpkin blend in a can).

Or try sweet potato cake by replacing the carrots with sweet potato puree.  Cut up the sweet potatoes and boil just like the carrots or buy cooked canned and puree them. 

Like pecans more than walnuts then replace the walnuts with pecans.  I’d go with the pecan if I was making this a sweet potato cake.

I also make a carrot/zucchini cake.  Just put 1 ½ cups the carrot puree in and 1 ½ cups of drained grated zucchini.  I have to add walnuts to this cake, but you can skip nuts entirely on any of these variations. 

And last but not least, try butternut squash in place of the carrots.  Again add the same amount of squash as carrots cooking it and pureeing it.  If you have a little more than 3 cups, use it. It will just be moisture.  You can also use baby food jars of squash too.  You do not need to change any of the recipe just substitute the squash for the carrots.

For frosting, I would go with cream cheese frosting on every variation but all that pinch of nutmeg.

Hope you have a great day.  I'll be on the move cause my car has a new battery.  Be happy and may God bless you and yours.