Carrots Anyone?

On Monday night, I made a little carrot salad made out of shredded carrots, and Jacob decided he would like a carrot cake. So I thought, why not. I hadn't made one in a while, and I needed to make something for Jacob's work for Wednesday, so on Tuesday, I set to work.

I started looking for recipes, and I was greatly helped by my mom. We happened to talk that day, and she sent me a recipe she had found in a book and tried to good reviews. So I decided to use it, and it turned out well. This recipe uses only carrots, which I prefer. I'm not sure what I think about carrot cakes that include pineapple and coconut.

So it was time to make the cake. So I went to my garden and to pick some carrots.


Just kidding. I live in an apartment that I just moved to two months ago. It would be physically impossible for me to have a garden. This is what my garden really looks like.

Yup, those carrots are tiny. Once I decided to make carrot cake, I wanted to try my hand at making little carrot toppers.

I made them out of leftover fondant from making this cake. So dyed some orange and green, made little indentions to make it look authentic, and rolled it around in some cocoa to simulate dirt. I think they turned out quite cute.

And now for the carrot cake petit fours, for lack of a better name. I'm open to suggestions for a better name.

To make these, I made the carrot cake recipe found at the end of the post in my jelly roll pan. I poured about half of the batter in it, to make a really thin cake. Then, with a cookie cutter, I made little rounds.

It's a carrot cake, so I had to use cream cheese icing. This one is slightly lemon flavored for a fresh taste. I'll include the recipe at the end of the post.

Just a dollop of cream cheese between the layers and one on top. Finish with a carrot and voila!

And I made a lot of carrots. I ended up making about 60 little cakes and the little carrots to go on top. But the effect was worth it.

And here's the recipes. These will make 60 cakes, about an inch in diameter.

Carrot Cake
adapted from Kitchen Keepsakes and More Kitchen Keepsakes

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and vanilla and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in grated carrots.

Pour about half of the batter into a jelly roll pan lined with parchment.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Repeat for other half of batter.

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
adapted from The Repressed Pastry Chef

2 8oz boxes of cream cheese, softened
4 tbl. butter, cold
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups confectioner's sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon

Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and combine very well. Add the cream cheese and combine very well. Add the lemon zest and combine thoroughly until light and fluffy.