Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Shredded Carrots Galore


I needed to "practice" grating with my food processor. I bought the 11 Cup Processor earlier in the summer, but with moving haven't had much time to use it. So what should I shred?? How about some baby carrots. So I ended up with 6 Cups and couldn't think of anything else to do with them but make a carrot cake. But because I had 6 and the recipe only calls for 3 I decided to make 2 batches of cake. The second batch I made 1/2 into 12 cupcakes and 1/2 into a loaf of bread. Here is the basic recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookbook: Bridal Edition

Cake

1 1/2cups granulated sugar
1cup vegetable oil
3eggs
2cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2teaspoons ground cinnamon
1teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon vanilla
1/2teaspoon salt
3cups shredded carrots (5 medium)
1cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting

1package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4cup butter or margarine, softened
2to 3 teaspoons milk
1teaspoon vanilla
4cups powdered sugar
1.(I combined this frosting recipe with another and omitted the milk and used 1/2 cup of softened butter)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of one 13x9-inch pan or two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans with shortening; lightly flour. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until blended. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla and the salt; beat on low speed 1 minute. Stir in carrots and nuts. Pour into pan(s).
2.Bake 13x9-inch pan 40 to 45 minutes, round pans 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool rectangle in pan on cooling rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
3.In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, milk and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, on low speed until smooth and spreadable. Frost 13x9-inch cake or fill and frost round layers with frosting. Store in refrigerator.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

House Pics!!

Pardon the "non-staged" pictures. But I thought since I had taken some pictures I would post some.