Tag: Carrot Cake

Best Ever Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is one of those cakes that’s full of potential, but somehow people always seem to mess with perfection. I mean, really, who decided that adding pineapples and raisins to carrot cake was necessary? No one sits around eating pineapples and carrots together. It makes no sense. I also personally only like the pecans on the outside of the cake, but that’s not a deal breaker. Don’t even get me started on people who use buttercream instead of cream cheese icing for carrot cake. Admittedly, all of these things are extremely trivial… Sometimes I surprise even myself with the amount of useless thought I put into food.

I’m sure you’ve all noticed that I’m a huge fan of Jaclyn over at Cooking Classy because her pictures are always beautiful and everything she posts is absolutely amazing. This cake is a perfect example because, well, this cake is perfect. It is hands down the best carrot cake I have ever made or tried. The only thing I changed is the amount of cream cheese icing (I did one and a half of the recipe). The recipe itself is flawless. I wanted to savor this cake for as long as possible, but it was so good I found myself cutting a piece every time I walked by the fridge. I have zero restraint. I hope you enjoy!

Best Ever Carrot Cake
Recipe from Cooking Classy

Serving Size: 12 Servings
Ingredients

4 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups lightly packed finely grated carrots*

1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

2/3 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting*
12 ounces (1 1/2 8 ounce packages) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup salted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar

*This is 1 1/2 times the original recipe. Scale it back if you like a bit less frosting.
Directions
  • Preheat
    oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 9″ round cake pans with aluminum foil,
    leaving an overhang on two side. Grease foil and dust with flour, set
    aside. (This cake can also be made in a 9×13 dish just increase baking
    time to 40 – 50 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out
    clean, I have even halved the recipe and baked it in and 8×8 dish).
  • In
    a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt,
    cinnamon and nutmeg. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer,
    combine vegetable oil, applesauce, eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla.
    Slowly stir in dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Stir in
    grated carrots. Divide mixture evenly into 2 prepared cake pans. Bake
    cakes in preheat oven for 35-39 minutes until toothpick inserted into
    center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes in
    cake dishes before removing to a wire rack to cool. Lift cakes out of
    pan with foil overhang and allow to cool on wire rack completely before
    frosting (once cool I cut about 1/4″ off the tops to even them out
    before frosting, you’ll notice the centers don’t rise as high as the
    rest). Flip cakes upside down when frosting with Cream Cheese Frosting.
    Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Store cake in airtight container.
  • *Grate carrots on small grate of a grater. This is usually 6-7 medium carrots.
  • Cream Cheese Frosting
  • In
    a large bowl, using an electric mixer, whip together cream cheese,
    butter and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in powdered sugar and mix until
    well combine.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

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Flädlesuppe (German Pancake Soup)

Fladlesuppe (German Pancake Soup)

This weekend we have the perfect weather in San Francisco for a warm soup. It has been cloudy, foggy, and rainy for many days already this year in the city. It has somehow become sort of automatic for me to cook more soups on rainy days. After I recently got over my lentil soup and butternut squash soup kick, I remembered this comforting flädlesuppe recipe. Flädlesuppe kind of means “pancake soup” in German, and this recipe was given to me by my husband a long time ago when we first started cooking together. 

This flädlesuppe is one of the easiest recipes I know, and I usually always have the ingredients on hand to make this German pancake soup. It is made with basic ingredients to make crêpes (flour, eggs, milk) and only a few vegetables, which are even optional. In our flädlesuppe recipe I usually use leek, green onion, celery and carrots. The crêpes can be made quickly in a blender, and are easiest to shred with a knife when they are cooled to at least room temperature, if not colder. For the soup base, I use beef broth for a stronger flavor, but you can also use vegetable or even chicken broth if you want…go ahead and experiment! No last minute trip to the store needed, yay! It is the worst when you can’t scramble up enough things in your pantry to cook anything on a rainy day.

Hopefully you will always have this flädlesuppe recipe to fall back on during rainy days, like I do now :)

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Flädlesuppe (German Pancake Soup)

Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total

1 hour

Type: Soup

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • Pinch granulated sugar
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted (plus more for greasing pan)
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 leek, thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup chopped green onion
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large celery rib, chopped
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  1. Add the flour, salt, sugar, milk, eggs and butter to a blender. Chill the batter for 30 minutes.
  2. Pour ¼ cup of batter onto a greased, hot skillet and swirl around the pan to thin the batter out. Carefully peel and flip when edges begin to peel up off the pan, and cook the other side for 30 seconds.
  3. Cover the crepes and chill for 15 minutes.
  4. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the leek, celery, green onion, and carrots for 5 minutes.
  5. Add the beef broth and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in the parsley and set aside.
  6. Stack the crepes on a cutting board and thinly slice using a sharp knife.
  7. Serve the soup warm, with a handful of sliced crepes on top.

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    This entry was posted in German, Lunch, Soups, Vegetarian and tagged blender, carrot, celery, leek, pancake.

    Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Muffins

    Gluten free carrot muffins
    Lovely wheat-free carrot cake muffins – gluten-free, xanthan gum free.

    Wake up with a warm and lovely carrot cake muffin.

    Ah, January. We're in it, now. Winter is in full swing. Which makes yours truly want to crank up the oven and bake- and with skies as gray and thick as old flannel, darling, it has to be muffins.

    Something bright and light and perfect with tea. Something fun to lo lift our cabin-feverish spirits. Something, perhaps, like these tender little bundles of gluten-free joy. So cute and sunny.

    I love the carroty color. The subtly fragrant texture of coconut flour and quinoa flakes. A hint of cinnamon and ginger. A bite of raisin.

    Seriously tea worthy.

    And more fiber rich than say, a powdered donut. Or your average gluten-free bagel which is nothing but starch (not that I have anything against starch these days; I am rather embracing Doris of late). But this is a treat you can eat without a heavy helping of self-imposed guilt on top.

    Truth is I don't count calories or worry about dieting.

    At my age (or any age?) I think worrying can make you gain weight.

    Focusing on all the food you can't have. Thinking about how many bites is too much. Cutting back so drastically on caloric intake or carbs or fat that your blood sugar plunges faster than a carnival ride. You don't want to be around me if I'm on a diet- or a low-carb regimen. I am one wildly cranky be-atch.

    I lose brain cells.

    I see flashing lights.

    I tip over.

    I claw through the refrigerator overwhelmed with the gnawing sensation of deprivation.

    Until I find the long lost bag of gluten-free pretzels.

    Then I'm done.

    And done in.

    So I don't bother with the details when I need to lose make friends with my yearly winter weight gain.
    I do try to keep moving. Because the reason I gain a pie roll this time of year has less to do with carbs and fat grams than you think. It's not the morning muffin that gives me my muffin top. It's the hibernation. The paucity of exercise. The bump on the log that I become once the sun sets- at 4:42 PM.

    It's hard to burn calories watching reruns of Mad Men and Downton Abbey.

    Unless you're on a treadmill.

    Which, sadly, I am allergic to.

    Really I am.

    READ MORE and get the recipe …

    Find more delicious gluten-free recipes at Gluten-Free Goddess. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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