A few years back (3 to be exact), our ward (congregation) was having a bake-off for an activity. Being one of the leaders for this group I figured I should submit a dessert. In true fashion, I decided to make a cake I'd never made before from scratch the day of. I can't remember how I picked carrot cake since I am not a big fan, but I got the recipe from my friend John Crapo.
The Best Carrot Cake Ever!
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
John's note: The cake tastes great with or without nuts. The preferred nut to use would be walnuts. (I did not use any nuts)
Mix well the oil and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well each egg into oil and sugar mixture. Sift the flour, b. powder, b. soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Add the carrots, vanilla, and nuts and mix together. Pour the batter into a cake pan. Bake at 350° for 40 min. (When I've made it, it always takes longer.)
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
1 8oz package of cream cheese
Almost 1 16oz package of powdered sugar
Beat butter, vanilla, and cream cheese together. Add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time mixing in to get a smooth texture. Continue adding sugar until desired consistency and taste.
Here is a plea from John regarding the recipe:
I also beg and plead that you not ruin the recipe by putting in pineapple or coconut, or some other fancy additive (not to say that you would). Many a good carrot cake has been ruined this way. Simplicity is often delicious! (No arguments here!)
Not really being a cream cheese frosting fan, I had a roommate at the time sample it to make sure it was edible. The cake turned out great! Darlene suggested I put some flowers from her garden on the cake to add a little color. I know I took pics of it, but do not know what happened to them. :( Needless to say, it was beautiful. I had flipped the cake out onto a flat baking sheet, covered it with frosting and added the flowers.
Does anyone remember who won this bake-off? I DID! I was amazed that my first time baking this cake won. It was at this time I thought I could have a knack for baking. By no means do all my first attempts at a new recipe turn out this well.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Pizza... Mmmmm
One of my all time favorite foods is pizza. Growing up, we almost always had pizza on Friday nights. Since my brother, Greg, just graduated from Cal, he has moved in with myself and our uncle. Greg and I go on walks and while on the walks we converse about what to have for dinner. One day, we figured we could take a crack at making pizza from scratch since we had most of the ingredients. Margarita pizza was the pizza of choice. It is fairly simple, yet so tasty. Mozzarella cheese, basil and tomatoes. It doesn't get any easier than that.
We found a simple dough recipe online which turned out great! We have made it a few times now.
Of course we added our own twist to the recipe. Here it is:
1 pkg dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp Italian seasonings
As you can see from the picture, we always double the batch since there are 2 hungry men living here now.
The water, yeast and sugar are placed into the bowls and let to sit for about 8 minutes. Once bubbly, we add the salt, flour and Italian seasonings. Once mixed in, we rub olive oil on the top and let it set for 20 minutes to give it time to rise.
While this is setting, we cut the tomatoes, shred/cut the cheese and wash off the basil.
During the prep, we heat up about a quarter to a half cup of olive oil in a pot and throw in some minced garlic. When we roll out the dough, we rub this garlic oil on before adding the cheese and tomato. Once the pizza is made, we place it in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. In the last few minutes we throw on the basil as we did not care for it being crispy the first time we made it when we added it right away.
We found a simple dough recipe online which turned out great! We have made it a few times now.
Of course we added our own twist to the recipe. Here it is:1 pkg dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp Italian seasonings
As you can see from the picture, we always double the batch since there are 2 hungry men living here now.
The water, yeast and sugar are placed into the bowls and let to sit for about 8 minutes. Once bubbly, we add the salt, flour and Italian seasonings. Once mixed in, we rub olive oil on the top and let it set for 20 minutes to give it time to rise.
While this is setting, we cut the tomatoes, shred/cut the cheese and wash off the basil.
During the prep, we heat up about a quarter to a half cup of olive oil in a pot and throw in some minced garlic. When we roll out the dough, we rub this garlic oil on before adding the cheese and tomato. Once the pizza is made, we place it in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. In the last few minutes we throw on the basil as we did not care for it being crispy the first time we made it when we added it right away.
Here is our finished, delicious product!
My first post!
Wow, my very first post for Food Junkie! Since being unemployed, I've been passing the time baking and cooking. I try to take pics of each creation. Since I wanted to keep it organized, I figured I'd keep track of it in a blog. Some will have pics, some will have recipes and some posts will have both. Enjoy!
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