“We didn’t make carrot cake at the bakery, but this is a cake that Allysa makes often at home.”(p. 102)

I made this cake for a colleague. It was her birthday and carrot cake is one of her favorites.

RECIPE LINK

This day, October 30, was a 2-recipe day, that explains all this stuff on the table. I baked the Magnolia carrot cake and a batch of fruitcake muffins. Let’s just take a look at the carrot cake on this blog.

What about that carrot cake? Well, there were detours, and I’ll explain why.

DETOUR(S): Why? I baked a carrot cake for some friends about a year ago and they kinduh went crazy over it. I felt the need to respect and try to repeat that success. I followed the Magnolia recipe, in principle, but made a few changes.

• The FORM of the cake – which carried icing implications. I used a Maryann Cake Pan. No icing on the side of this. About the only thing it tolerates is a confectioners sugar dusting.

The pan creates a well at the top that MUST be filled with some gooey-goodie.

•  The FLOUR. Magnolia only calls for all-purpose flour. At least that’s all I’ve seen so far. My earlier success with this cake had a combination of flours, so 1) I kept Magnolia’s portions, but 2) divided it between four different flours:
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat
  • 1/2 cup barley
  • 1/2 cup spelt  (These older, whole grain flours contain more protein and add a nutty, already sweet flavor to a cake or muffin.)
• PINEAPPLE. The recipe calls for one 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple with its juice. I had only sliced pineapple available. I chopped it up leaving bigger chunks inside the cake. I would have liked the chunks to be smaller but all those who ate the cake seemed to like it.

• The ICING. The Magnolia icing for this cake is the Cream Cheese Icing. I made a 1/2 recipe and added
  • 1 cup of yoghurt
  • FRESH, SWEET, pineapple chunks

I got it all mixed up – in the best sense of that expression.

And it popped out looking beautiful.

Beautiful, until I turned the cake upside-down to take it out of the pan. It MOSTLY came out well, but I had a couple of torn spots. LEARNED: 1) You have to be very careful with the Maryann Cake Pan to grease and flour it well. It is easy to miss a spot or two and have some stick. 2) Let the cake cool completely. As a cake or cookie cools, the form becomes better fixed and less likely to tear. The cooling also lets a cake contract and separate itself from the pan.

I didn’t get a picture of the cake I baked for two reasons. First, I didn’t want to fill the well with the filling (yoghurt-infused icing). So I waited until just before “Happy Birthday to You” to fill the well and COVER IT WITH CRUSHED PECANS !!!. Secondly, we set about to devour the cake rather quickly. It was the right thing to do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY!

I hope you had a sweet day!