And a few more cakes . . .

Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting and carrot curls

Carrot Cake:

Grate 3 cups of Carrots and mix in 1/2 cup of sugar and set aside.

Pour 1/2 cup of hot water over 1 Cup of golden Raisins. (optional add 1 Tablespoon of rum or rum flavoring) and set aside.

Combine and beat at high speed until light and well mixed: 1-1/2 Cups of Brown Sugar, 1 Cup of Oil, 2-1/2 teaspoons of Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of Nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of ground Cloves, 2 teaspoons of Vanilla.

Drain: Carrots, Raisins and 1/2 cups of crushed Pineapple (8oz can) .

Sift following and add alternately with 3 Tablespoons of Milk: 3 Cups Flour, 3 teaspoons of Baking Powder, 1/2 teaspoon of Soda and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Stir in: grated Carrots, raisins and crushed Pineapple. Pour into 3- 9" cake pans and bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees, or until cake tests done. Let cool in pans about 10 minutes and then turn out to cool on wire racks.

Frost with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat 8 oz of soft Cream Cheese, 6 Tablespoons of soft Butter, 2 Tablespoons of grated Orange Rind, 1 Tablespoons of Orange Juice with 1 pound of powdered sugar, sifted.

Beat until fluffy, It takes a while. If too stiff add Orange juice a drop at a time.

Carrot Curls: The curls are fun and easy to make: In a skillet bring 1cup of water and 1cup of sugar to boil. Peel a wide carrot until the strips are wide, too. Put wide strips in skillet mixture and cook until translucent (about 15minutes) Drain carrot strips and lay flat on a baking sheet lined with a silicon liner. Bake in 225 oven for 30minutes. Curl dry carrot strips around a wooden spoon handle and put back in oven for 30-45minutes, until curls are crispy.

This one is Milk Chocolate Cake.

I didn't like this milk chocolate frosting. Below are three chocolate frosting recipes that I think are terrific;

Dark Chocolate Buttercream: Beat 6 Tablespoons of butter (room temperature) with 1 Cup of Cocoa (Dutch-processed if possible), Gradually add 1/3 Cup of Milk alternately with 2-1/2 Cups of Powdered Sugar, sifted. Add 1 teaspoon of Vanilla

Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting (Cake Doctor) : Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter (room temperature) with 3 ounces of semisweet chocolate. Combine melted butter and chocolate with 1/2 Cup Sour Cream. Add remaining 2-1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar, 2 Tablespoons of hot water, alternately and beat until frosting become a spreadable consistency. Add 1 teaspoon of Vanilla

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting: Melt 1/2 Cup of Butter (room temperature) and stir in 2/3 Cup Cocoa. Alternately beat in 3 Cups of Powdered Sugar, sifted and 1/3 Cup of Milk. Add 1 teaspoon of Vanilla.

As usual I used a mix for the cake: Triple Chocolate, following recipe on box.

I've been making lots of cakes!

A Bakin' Cakes

Rum .......Rum .......Rum

Lately I have been baking cakes. It started with a gal from work asking if I could make a rum cake for her family's Thanksgiving. She told me she grew up eating rum cake for special occasions. She described it as a frosted, light, layered cake with a distinctive rum flavor. (and has such a rum flavor that she said "we don't share it with the children !") I have been stirring up cake batters and frosting hunting for the memorable combination. I found a lot of bundt style recipes but am having to wing the light, layered style.

The first cake I made I substituted all of the liquid (1-1/4cups) for rum and did the same (1/4cup) for the buttercream frosting. ewwwwwwwwwwww The cake was flat and the frosting had a bad bite to it. The flies around the garbage can the next morning were weaving terribly! (and their eyes were rummy)

The second one had half the rum in the batter, an added egg. It came out with a pound cake texture. I brushed the cake layers with a butter, sugar, rum glaze and then frosted it with a cooked rum, brown sugar buttercream (rum is created from molasses/sugar so brown sugar is a good compliment) It turned out good but very mild.

Then I made the bundt style because I kept reading about it... A beautiful, fun but unproductive detour. I now have a game plan of cooking plain yellow cake layers, glazing with rum, brown sugar, butter glaze and frosting with the brown sugar buttercream adding a little more rum. I'll add a picture of the final cake next week!

Rum Cake Bundt style link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rum-Cake-II/Detail.aspx