Carrot Cake

I trimmed the sugar and fat down from the original recipe, but this cake still turned out very moist and decadent. The frosting allotment barely covered the cake, but doubling the amount would be too much. The nuts around the sides covered up the streaky, bald parts where the frosting ran out, and they looked purty and tasted good too!

3/4 pound (340 grams) raw carrots (about 2 1/2 cups finely grated)

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

¾ (scant) c white sugar

¾ c date syrup

½ c sunflower oil

½ c applesauce

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Note: This cake can be baked in a 9 x 13 x 2 inch (23 x 33 x 5 cm) pan. Just increase the baking time to between 30 to 40 minutes

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Twice as much frosting would have been useful for a two layer cake. This barely covered it. Also, I only used ¾ c confectioner’s sugar and it was fine.

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cups (230 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

finely grated lemon zest of one lemon

Garnish:

1 cup (100 grams) toasted and finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Carrot Cake: Preheat oven
to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray two - 9 x 2 inch (23 x 5 cm) cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper.

Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Peel and finely grate the carrots. Set aside.

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

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand 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. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. 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 oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack, remove the pans and parchment paper, and then cool completely before frosting.

To assemble: place one cake layer, top side down, onto your serving plate. Spread with about one third of the frosting. Gently place the other cake, top of cake facing down, onto the frosting, and spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. If desired, press toasted and finely chopped nuts on the sides of the cake and decorate the top of the cake with carrots. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Serves 10 - 12.

Chocolate Chip Rectangle

This is a cookie-in-a-pan concoction. Doesn't make portion control any easier, but I made scaled down the recipe in the hopes that even if we consumed the whole pan in a day and a half, at least it wasn't twice as much! This also evolved from what I thought was half a bag of chocolate chips I found languishing in the cupboard. By the time I had the modest amount of cookie dough all mixed up and ready to accept the chips, I discovered it to be more like 2/3 of a bag, so the end result is a super chocolatey treat. I think the proportions are kind of nice, actually. And the texture on these beat the crispy hard little discs my butter laden drop cookies tend to be. In rectangle form it becomes a melty, flaky, chewy, gooey sensation.

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 t vanilla
1 1/8 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 -2/3 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Butter (dimensions of pan) glass pan to prevent rectangle from sticking. In an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the white and brown sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Then add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated. Lastly, fold the in chocolate chips. Spread dough into rectangular pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Park Grill

Discovered a new Gruner today-- this Kurt Angerer "Spies" Gruner Veltliner from Kamptal, Austria. Went nicely with PG's hummus appetizer which is dolled up with cumin, sweet peppers and olives; and later with a smoked salmon club sandwich. Must find this one on my next trip to a proper wine shop. Can't wait to sip it again.