Carrot Pineapple Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi everybody!! I saw a delicious recipe for carrot cake on The Food Charlatan blog and thought I'd try it, with a few modifications. So, let's start!

First step: contemplation of our goal.

 

So, in the original recipe it calls for two cups toasted pecans, flavored oil (no idea what that is, I just used normal oil), and sour cream (I used Greek yoghurt because we had some).

I also put in twice as much pineapple. That was an accidental modification and I'd recommend just the normal amount of pineapple because then I had to add more flour.

So:

     1 cup white sugar

    1 cup brown sugar

   1 cup oil

     1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I think this really made a difference in the flavor, YUM)

   2 teaspoons vanilla

    4 eggs

    8 ounces crushed pineapple, with juice

Whisk together:

    2 cups flour, spooned and leveled

   2 teaspoons baking soda

   2 teaspoons baking powder

  1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

                                        

Fold in:

   3 cups grated carrots. I had a bag of grated carrots, but it really seemed like the pieces were way too big so we ended up chopping them)

   1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I was out of pecans and almost out of walnuts. Next time I'll use the two whole cups because I loved the crunch and there wasn't quite enough for the amount of pineapple.)

For the frosting:
The original recipe calls for 1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted. I just couldn't see pecans in my frosting so I left them out. :P
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) salted butter, soft
1 and 1/2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, soft (12 ounces total)
4 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons real maple syrup (I used Grade A)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons maple extract
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
nuts and carrots for garnish

Instructions: preheat over to 350F.

 

 

Whisk all the dry ingredients.

Mix all the wet ingredients. (See all the pineapple? I still didn't clue in. Only later when I had carrot cake soup did I check my can and realize I'd used a 20 oz can instead of 8oz.)

Ednaaaaaaa!!!! She's very energetic in the spring and although it's not quite warm enough to go without a coat, she was ready to work!

 She whipped the frosting up in no time. She's a champ!

Bake for 45-50 minutes in two 9 inch cake pans. Let cool for 20 minutes, carefully release the cake from the pans and flip onto a cooling rack. When perfectly cooled, trim, frost and assemble.

 My little guys wants to decorate with the carrots and since we could just pick them off, I said, "Why not??" There... raw carrots instead of the frosting variety.

 All in all, a delicious recipe! I really liked the pineapple addition, plus the yoghurt. Very moist (probably because too much pineapple, but it still didn't fall apart) and perfect for a fun family dessert!

   And a little reminder that The Pepper In the Gumbo is free for only a little while longer! 310 four and five star reviews!  You can get it here

 

And if you've already read Book One, there's always the next in the series, plus three more, the last releasing later this month! I just loved this couple... When I reach the end of a series I always get sentimental as I look back at my first books with the first characters. *sigh*
 Happy weekend, everybody!

 

 

Edna and Lucy, friends for life

Hello, everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a new addition to our little family.

 

No, not one of these, although I'd totally go for one of these sweet things!

Our new friend is quite the newfangled contraption around here. We're awed, taken-aback, and thrilled all at once when she gets going. This is Lucy, meeting Edna.

I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen when I introduced another silver, shiny, ultra-functional appliance. Lucy is a super juicer and she was at a yard sale for super cheap! I was hoping everything worked correctly. In the Fall, we get apples by the box, and her previous owner said she could juice 50 apples in several minutes.

 

                   REALLY???? 50 in several minutes?? That is some serious power.
So, I brought her home and tried her out... not giving her a name yet because I didn't want the kids to get attached and have a repeat of the grill-that-didn't-make-food episode.

I put in some spinach and about 5 apples. Yes, it took about a minute or two to make all this yumminess!! (What? That doesn't look tasty? *ahem* It sort of wasn't. Live and learn.) Edna was quiet but I knew what she was thinking. "Very powerful but no one is going to EAT that."

We decided to try carrots. Small children started chopping carrots for Lucy. (We named her. We liked her. It was time to make something delicious that did not involved spinach.)

ooooooooo! Fresh carrot juice!! I set it before Edna and said, "Look at this delicious healthy beverage!" There was no comment. I passed the glass and everyone exclaimed over Lucy and her power choppers/squeezers/whatever it takes to get liquid from solid.

Then dear Edna asked me what 'd do with the pulp. "Huh? Feed it to the chickens, of course."

She said that Lucy was quite clever, actually. how else to grate all those carrots for carrot cake?
Hm! What a good idea! So with cups of the pulp, I added 1/4 cup applesauce to moisten it up, then mixed in
4 eggs,
1 cup vegetable oil,
2 cups white sugar,
2 tsp vanilla,
2 cups flour,
2 tsp baking soda,
2 tsp baking powder,
1/2 tsp salt,
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon,
1 cup raisins (or pecans but I only had raisins)

I was a little worried about this collaboration since I'd only ever grated carrots (with the juice!) before, but the applesauce was perfect. I could probably try to sub the applesauce for oil next time to cut down on the calories and make it even more healthy!

Mmmmmmmm..... With cream cheese frosting. So, I got my healthy juice (since I'm not eating sugar) and the kids got both a healthy juice and a delicious treat!!

So, sweet Lucy will be making appearances now and then as she and Edna come up with more recipes. They're over in the corner chattering away. I think they're talking about the handsome trunk we refurbished. He's quite a hunk. You remember the photo of him before? Well, brace yourselves. This is Mr. Turn-of-The-Century after my girls and I spent a lot of time (and calories, hopefully) stripping off his canvas.

                                                                          Ta-dah!

And we named the juicer after Lucy Stone. She was a suffragist and abolitionist from the mid-1800's, the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She married, but wanted to keep her maiden name. They actually passed a law (The Lucy Stone Law) because it wasn't exactly legal before then. Can you imagine? So, dear Lucy the juicer, squeezing every drop of goodness from wonderful life, is getting along fabulously with Edna, the pot-stirrer and magic-maker!

 Ok, until next time, my friends!

Carrot Cake Bars, Ruthy-style!

Don't get your knickers in a twist.

And don't, don't, DON'T EVER use a mix for carrot cake.

It... Does....Not....Work.

BUT... If you don't mind either grating or shredding carrots...(I use my Cuisinart OR my grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid that's missing buttons and speeds but STILL WORKS)

The rest is a dump in and mix kind of recipe.

Now, Connealy makes carrot cake too. Lots of us do. And the recipes are usually the same, or close enough.

BUT....

Mine's better.

I'm just sayin'.

And here's something else:  You can add in drained crushed pineapple (I love it with this, but not everyone likes the added texture and taste, and I drain it well and blot it with paper towels so the cake doesn't get soggy. Carrot cake is already dense with oil, right?  We don't want it S-O-G-G-Y...)

1 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup raisins

OR NOT...

My kids like it straight up. Nothing added. Yes, they're boring, but most of them like me so I try to keep them happy, especially at holiday time and these bars rock the Holiday Kahuna.

So here it is courtesy of my Betty Crocker Cookbook with a few Ruthy-variations and I always double the batch (at least) because it freezes well. I double wrap it in freezer paper and then I have fresh cake for oh,... whatever I need it for!

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups shredded or grated carrots

Grease and flour pan. For the bars I use my 13 x 9 pan for a single cake, but if I double it I go to my 1/2 sheet cake pan, 12 x 18.... Preheat oven to 350.

Mix sugar, oil and eggs in mixing bowl until well blended. (Simple so far, right????) Beat one minute. Add remaining ingredients except for carrots and nuts. (ha! What did I tell you???? Easy-peasy.)  Mix or beat one minute or so. Add in carrots and nuts/raisins if desired. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 35-45 minutes depending on pan size until cake top looks dry and a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Mostly clean. A few clinging crumbs is never a bad thing.



For bars:

I trim off the edges of the cake (no crusts on these bars) and eat them. (Yes, I do. But I shouldn't)

Slice cake into 2" x 3" or so slices. Frost each slice/bar.  I use a frosting bag and a large star tip and just go back and forth quickly to cover the top. 


CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 8 oz stick butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
Splash of milk
2 teaspoons vanilla (or three good squirts from the new squirt-top industrial size bottle. I love that thing!)

Cream cheese and butter together. Add confectioners sugar, splash of milk and vanilla. Beat on low until sugar is blended in, then switch to high for about 3-4 minutes. If frosting is too soft, add sugar. If too firm, add a little bit of milk.

Frosting firms up when refrigerated.

Basically, now you're done. But I like to color a little cream cheese frosting orange and some green and then I use a number 5 or 6 round tip to pipe little carrots onto each slice. I use the 'grass' tip (lots of tiny holes) to hit each carrot with a green 'top'...

 Note that the carrots are not perfect.

When God makes carrots, they vary widely. Ruthy would be unwise not to emulate God, right?

These two fellas didn't fit on the two party trays.

Such a shame.

One for me. One for Beth. Perfect!!!  ;)

These are HUGELY WELL RECEIVED at holiday parties or showers or weddings or picnics. A big crowd pleaser because they're only a few bites big and the ratio of frosting to cake is WONDERFUL.

It's all about ratio, all the time.

The end.