The Carrot Cake Dessert Who would ever think a cake made with a vegetable would turn out to be a delicious dessert that is easy to prepare and serve? My dad’s favorite kind of cake is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. This cake is now one of my mom’s famous recipes known to the family, friends and co-workers. The carrot cake was modernized in the sixty’s as our nation began looking for healthier snacks and improving and maintaining a healthier diet. It became one of the nation’s trendiest desserts in the health food department with cream cheese frosting.
You can add other ingredients like pineapple, oranges, raisins, coconut, papaya or even rum to give it your own touch that will have others asking for the recipe. Prior to going to the local grocer to pick up your ingredients, you need to make sure you have a list of things you will need. After acquiring all of your ingredients, you must follow the instructions below to make a delicious carrot cake of your own. The first thing that you need to do is gather together all of your ingredients and tools.
You will need two bowls, a set of measuring spoons (teaspoons and tablespoons), a measuring cup, a spatula, a thirteen inch rectangle baking pan, and Pam, a non-stick spray. Now that you have your tools, you can start with your ingredients, which consist of two cups and one tablespoon flour, two cups granulated sugar, two teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon baking soda, one teaspoon salt, and two teaspoons ground cinnamon. Next are your wet ingredients, which are one and a half cups canola oil, four eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla extract, two cups grated carrots, half a cup of diced pineapples and one cup chopped pecans.
For the cream cheese frosting, you will need six ounces of cream cheese, three tablespoons of cream, and one and a half teaspoons of vanilla extract. Now that you have everything together, you are ready to start cooking. In your first step you will mix all of your dry ingredients together in one of your mixing bowl and set this aside. Your next step will be to mix your wet ingredients together in the other bowl. Once your wet ingredients are mixed, you will pour it into the bowl of your dry ingredients. You will then gently fold your wet and dry ingredients together.
After mixing, you pour your cake mix into a baking pan and place the baking pan into a pre-heated oven. You will bake the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for forty to forty-five minutes. Each oven may vary; so you must check the cake at twenty minutes intervals. When the time is ready to remove the cake from the oven, you use a toothpick to test if cake is fully cooked. To do this, you pierce the center of the cake with the toothpick and remove the toothpick. If the toothpick feels sticky to the touch or has some of the cake mix on it, it needs to cook an additional five minutes.
If the toothpick feels oily and there is no cake mix on it, it is time to remove the cake from the oven. While the cake is baking, you mix together your ingredients for the frosting and set them aside. You may then start cleaning the utensils and bowls that were used in preparing the cake mix and place the excess ingredients into storage containers, which can either be refrigerated or placed in your pantry. After the cake is finished baking, you remove it from the oven using pot holders. A knife can be used to separate the cake from the side of the baking pan, and then you can turn the cake pan over onto a cooling rack.
The cake needs to cool for one to two hours before you spread on the frosting. To frost your cake, you will use a spatula. This requires taking a small amount of frosting from the bowl and placing it on top of the cake. Then you use the spatula to spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake until the frosting is evenly distributed on the cake. The best way to spread the icing is to take a dollop amount, press it down softly and move your spatula in a zig zag motion while slowly turning the cake around.
After you have admired your finished product and everyone in the home has admired your cake as well, you will place the cake in the center of the table for maximum viewing while your family members or friends constantly have it in their field of vision. They will hurriedly eat their meal in anticipation of indulging in a slice of this wonderfully baked carrot cake. If the cake was baked for a special occasion, perhaps candles will be placed on it and that special person will make a wish prior to blowing out the candles. Finally, a sharp knife slices into this beautiful confection of sugar, eggs, flour, cream cheese, nuts and carrots.
Then a slice of the cake is placed onto either a plate made of bone china or paper. Using either the best silverware or a plastic fork, the first mouthful is met with delight, which sends your taste buds into a frenzy. You quickly take another bite, and then another bite of your cake to satisfy your sugar craving. Before you know it, your sweet tooth has been satisfied. Still you take the edge of your fork and scrape the last bit of frosting from your plate, and with your eyes closed you savor the last morsel in your mouth.
Nothing tastes as good as homemade food. Homemade desserts not only taste better, but we can control what we put in them, as we move into living a healthier lifestyle, we have improved the carrot cake by adding different vegetables, such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes and zucchini to our carrot cakes. So I encourage all of you out there to go forth and make this very easy recipe that is guilt free to the very last bite. Your waistline will appreciate the healthy treat, and your family will love the taste. They don’t even need to know that it is good for them.
