Carrot Cake

This tutorial is a little picture heavy. I wanted to attempt to show even the novice how easy this cake is to make. The final result is a cake that is beautiful, moist and delicious.

The first thing I like to do is read through my recipe to familiarize myself with the ingredients and with the instructions just in case I need to pick something up at the store or have a question on any of the steps. Once I've read through the instructions, I gather my ingredients. Once I have everything gathered, I start to do the steps that need to be prepped. With this cake, there is some initial prep work which will make the recipe go a lot smoother if you do this in advance.

Here's the ingredient list for the cake (cream cheese frosting will follow):

1 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

3/4 pound raw carrots (about 2 1/2 cups finely grated)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Finely grated zest of one lemon

About 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before you are ready to start, remove the butter and cream cheese from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Sift your confectioners sugar into a bowl. You will need a small hand grater to grate the zest of your lemon. Make sure you grate only the yellow rind and not the white pithy part of the lemon. Set everything aside until you're ready to make your frosting.

Place oven rack in center of oven. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You will need two - 9 x 2 inch cake pans. We will line the inside bottoms of these pans with parchment paper. Grab your cake pans and place the bottom on your parchment paper. Trace the bottom of your pans on the paper and cut out. Butter your spray your pans, line with the parchment paper and then lightly spray the paper.

Now let's go ahead and measure out 1 cup pecans or walnuts and toast them. Toasting nuts can be done in one of two ways: the oven or the stove top. I have done this both ways but for this recipe I chose the stove top. In a small frying pan on medium heat, place your pecans or walnuts in the pan. The toasting process can take approximately 8 minutes. You don't have to stir constantly, but you need to be careful they don't burn. So make sure you turn them a few times. You will know they are ready when they begin to toast lightly and become fragrant.

Once the nuts are toasted, set them aside to cool. While you're waiting for them to cool, go ahead and wash and peel your carrots.

Grab your food processor or manual grater. I used a food processor which makes the job a lot faster. I have it fitted with the blade that is used for grating.

You want to have about 2 1/2 cups carrots. A smidge more or less won't make a big difference. Set them aside.

Now that the toasted nuts are cooled go ahead and coarsely chop those. I have a mini processor I bought years ago for $10 and have gotten every penny's worth out of it. You can use a large processor as well. Either one needs to be fitted with a chopping blade.

Set these aside for now.

Let's start making our cake batter!

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Set aside.

Time for your eggs. I like to crack each egg individually in a small bowl to make sure that they aren't spoiled.

(My eggs are from my daughter's chickens. They are totally free range and delicious.)

In the large bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). 

Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3-4 minutes).

Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. (Couldn't show still pictures of this step - too blurry.)

Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. (Don't over beat, just want your dry ingredients moistened.) Remove the bowl from your mixer and with a large rubber spatula, fold in the grated carrots and chopped nuts.

Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 10 minutes, invert the cakes on the wire rack, remove the pans and the parchment paper. Cool completely.

Let's make the cream cheese frosting.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on low speed, just until blended with no lumps.

Gradually add the sifted confectioners sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Let's assemble our cake:

Place one cake layer, top (slightly rounded) side down, onto your serving plate. Take some small pieces of waxed paper and slip underneath the edges of the cake. I do this so that when I frost my cake my plate stays clean.

Spread about 1/3 of the frosting on your bottom layer. Gently place the other cake, top (slightly rounded) side face down onto the frosting. Spread the remaining 2/3's of the frosting on the top and sides of the cake.

You can decorate as desired. In the pictures below, I just took the tip of my offset spatula that I used to spread the frosting and sort of slapped it lightly into the frosting to leave a raised and swirled design. You can also toast extra pecans or walnuts, chop them fine and press into the sides of the cake. (This is what I usually do but didn't have enough nuts to fill in the sides completely. Looks beautiful and very professional when done this way.)

After decorating the entire cake, remove your wax paper pieces. As you can see, this leaves your plate nice and clean.

The cake is very easy to make and guaranteed you will get ooooh's and ahhhhh's.

(Because this is a cream cheese frosting, you need to cover and refrigerate any leftovers.)

Sweet Roll Dough ~ Cinnamon Rolls

Sweet Roll Dough

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

1/3 cup dry milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 tsp. salt

1 egg

3 1/2 cups flour

+ flour for kneading

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl.

Stir in milk, sugar, shortening, egg, salt and 2 cups of the flour.

Beat by hand until smooth.

Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface.

Knead until smooth and elastic, minimum of 5 minutes.

Place in a greased bag and refrigerate overnight.

Cinnamon Rolls

The next day, remove dough from refrigerator and allow to return to room temperature.

Punch down and roll into a rectangle.

Spread dough with softened butter, leaving one long edge "naked".

Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture...be sure to leave the one long edge "naked".

Stretch and roll toward the "naked" edge, and seal.

With seam side down, cut into 16 rolls.

(for tips...click here)

Place cut side down in a greased 9 x 13" baking pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.

Drizzle with Powdered Sugar Glaze.

Submitted by,

~Natalie

Tins and Treasures

Harvest Zucchini

1 1/4 pound zucchini

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp. milk

2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. poppy seed

1 tsp. salt

Wash zucchini, remove stem and blossom ends, but do not pare. 

Cut into slices. 

Heat butter in a 10 inch skillet,

Cover and cook zucchini and chopped onion, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is tender.

Mix paprika, poppy seeds, and salt together.

Gently stir into cook zucchini and heat through.

This recipe makes 4 servings.

(Notice, I use fat-free sour cream

and next time I will use less butter than the original recipe.)

Take care,

~Natalie

Tins and Treasures 

White Bread

I've tried many different white bread recipes over the years and this one has to be the BEST one yet!!!

Below is the recipe for the bread that Walter Sands made faithfully once a week for years. Walter was the father of Frank E. Sands, King Arthur Flour's current chairman of the board. Because of his arthritic hands, he used a bread bucket with a crank, which kneaded hundred of loaves of this fragrant bread with all its happy associations.

2 cups (16 ounces) warm water
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) sugar or honey (1 1/2 ounces)
1 scant tablespoon or packet active dry yeast
1/2 cup (2 ounces) dry milk powder or granules (1 1/4 ounces), optional
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter, softened, or vegetable oil (7/8 ounce)
6 cups (25 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons salt

Pour the warm water into a mixing bowl. Add and let dissolve the sugar or honey and then the yeast. When the yeast is bubbling, add the dry milk, butter and 3 cups of flour and the salt. Mix together and then stir in a further 2 1/2 cups of flour. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup on the surface you intend to use for kneading.

Knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes, until it begins to behave as if it belonged together. Let it rest while you clean and grease the bowl. Continue kneading a further 3 to 4 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and springy.

Let the dough rise until doubled (1 to 2 hours). Knock it down, knead out any stray bubbles, cut it in half and form two loaves. Place them in two lightly greased 4 1/2 x 8 1/2-inch bread pans. Let rise until almost doubled (45 minutes to 1 hour).

Preheat the oven for 15 minutes to 350°F. Bake the loaves 35 to 40 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove bread from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Yield: 2 loaves.

This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 6, July-August 1992 issue.

German Sweet Chocolate Cheesecake

German Sweet Chocolate Cheesecake

2 4 oz. packages German Sweet Chocolate

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

2 8 oz. packages softened cream cheese

7 cups whipped topping

Graham Cracker Crust

(google image)

Measure the 2/3 cup milk in a liquid measuring cup.

Take out 1/4 cup milk and place in a saucepan with the squares of chocolate.

Using low heat, melt the chocolate, stirring constantly.

Allow to cool slightly.

google image

Prepare graham cracker crust following the instructions on the box.

Press in the bottom and slightly up the sides of your spring-form pan.

Beat sugar into cream cheese. 

Add remaining milk and chocolate mixture and beat until smooth.

Fold into whipped topping, blending until smooth.

Spoon into crust. Spread until smooth.

Freeze until firm.

If you do not have a spring-form pan, you may half the recipe and prepare in a pie pan.

Scroll down to find a link to a printer friendly version of the recipe.

Click on 'no images' to remove my photos, then print.

Take care,

~Natalie

Tins and Treasures

Chickpea Pasta with Almonds and Parmesan

Chickpea Pasta with Almonds and Parmesan

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 7 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• kosher salt (optional)
• 1 pound whole wheat pasta
• 1 15.5-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted almonds, sliced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

 Add the broth, crushed red pepper, and optional salt. 

Bring to a boil.

• Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until the broth is nearly absorbed and the pasta is al dente, about 9 to 11 minutes. 

Stir in the chickpeas or garbanzo beans and parsley.

Heat through.

Top with the sliced almonds and Parmesan cheese.

This is delicious by itself, as an entree...

or as a side-dish with chicken, beef, fish or pork on the grill.

by Natalie, Tins and Treasures

The original recipe was found on Real Simple and has been adapted for our tastes.

Scroll down for a 'printer friendly' version...

click on 'no images'.

Enjoy!