The Other Cake

Warning: I'm going to talk about Flour Bakery again (I really need to find a new lunch spot...) In my last post, I alluded to the Carrot Cake my mom and I made for my birthday- the recipe was from the Flour Bakery cookbook. What I failed to mention was that before Flour came into our lives, my mom was using a Carrot Cake recipe from a Sunset Magazine cookbook (circa 1989). We had a cake auction at work today to raise money for the Boston Marathon runners (and no, I'm not running the Marathon. I'm too busy eating cake). So instead of the tedious Flour recipe, I opted for Mom's simple, but trusty, Sunset recipe. In all fairness, I did use Flour's candied carrot strips for decoration, but I must admit (no offense, Flour) the Sunset recipe took the (carrot) cake (obvious pun intended).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13 rectangular cake pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups of white sugar and 1 cup vegetable oil. Blent in 4 eggs, one at a time. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1.5 teaspoons baking soda. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Mix in 2 cups shredded carrots (shred them yourself for the moisture- it will be about 4-5 carrots and make sure you peel them first!), 8oz crushed pineapple (well drained), and 1/2 cup walnuts (chopped).

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean)

Let cool. Now for the icing on the cake...

Blend together 6oz cream cheese and 6 tablespoons butter (let butter and cream cheese get to room temperature to avoid lumps) with 1 teaspoon grated orange peel (a must!) and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Slowly blend in 2 cups powdered sugar (or quickly, if you would like a powdered sugar blizzard in your kitchen).

And, of course, Flour's candied carrots strips:

Boil 3/4 cup water with 1 cup sugar. Peel a carrot or two. Using the vegetable peeler, peel long strips of carrot. Add strips in a single layer to the boiling sugar-water and let boil for 10 seconds. Remove from heat (keep the carrots in the syrup) and let cook completely. Remove strips onto a paper towel to "drain" then roll each strips into a carrot rose. Decorate as you wish.

By the way, the Sunset cookbook (Easy Basics for Good Cooking) is fabulous (and cheap!) A must-have for any classic (home) cook.

Enjoy- And Happy Easter! Speaking of Easter, I am off to Eastern Europe for 10 days- looking forward to sharing the cuisine with you when I return.