Carrot Cake

Spring is a great time for weddings. Fortunately I haven't reached the point in my life where my social calendar is filled with these commitments but that also means that I'm missing out on some serious cake.

Lots of bowls for this recipe. Gotta do everything right.

I learned at an early age that weddings frequently have carrot cake. Even before I knew what cream cheese frosting was, I knew there was something particularly special about the frosting on this cake. Even if I couldn't put my finger on it yet.

So many great ingredients. Carrots make it healthy, right?

Flash forward several upon several years and I can venture to make the cake all by myself, without an excuse. Hurray for cream cheese frosting and carrot cake! But I actually did have a reason, we had a barbeque which meant there were lots of people who could eat this cake instead of me just sitting around eating it all by myself. This also meant I didn't get to taste test it but I'm getting better about trusting the baking universe to make things delicious.

I decided that carrot cake is best sans nuts. Apparently there's pineapple and coconut in this cake, whaaaaat?? Transport me to a tropical island. And exactly one bag of carrots. Food processor makes chopping carrots so much safer--and easier.

The glory of the food processor

Fun fact: usually when you eat carrot cake, it's cooled. But if you have a room full of people and are in a rush, you eat it warm (you also frost it warm and stick it in the fridge as the frosting starts to melt). It is delicious right out of the oven.

Bundt pan for the win!

As usual this came from Joy the Baker's cookbook but she does have a recipe on her site. Don't fear the carrot cake, it's not as scary as it seems. And if you find yourself at a wedding, begrudgingly or not, just remember: they will let you eat cake.

I really must learn to frost cakes