Carrot Cake

Ethan’s 14 th birthday was November 10. (Oddly enough, November 10 is the anniversary of Marc and my first, glorious date, the Marine Corps Ball, 1979..) Ethan was not home, however, as he, Marc, Sean, and Nick went to a Royal Rangers (similar to boy scouts but affiliated with the church) winter camp for the weekend.

Knowing that we would be celebrating his birthday when they got back on the 11th, I asked him what type of cake he would like.

Understand that Ethan is not my most decisive child. We hated to take him anywhere where he had to choose candy or ice cream from the counter. Everyone else would have theirs eaten and he would still be agonizing over flavors. So I figured it would take several minutes for me to get an answer.

After 10 minutes of watching cake flavors cross his mind (his expression changed with each, I swear) I started helping.

chocolate cake with fudge frosting? chocolate cake with orange frosting? yellow cake with chocolate frosting and almond filling? Strawberry with milk chocolate? Orange with chocolate? Carrot cake?

As the words carrot cake left my mouth his eyes lit up and he nodded. “Carrot cake!”

I sighed. Carrot cake is nice but it is so done. I don’t know. Carrot cake is like white cotton granny panties, o.k.? Just not very intriguing.

So I was determined to come up with something different and wonderful and unusual..and very un-granny-like.

I chose to make this as a one layer cake in a 13×9 pan because I was afraid with the chunkiness of the ingredients it would not hold as a layer cake and I did not have time to do it over if it messed up.

The cake it’s self is sweet and moist, just like an ordinary carrot cake. Spicy with cinnamon. Just like always. What I have done, though, or tried to, is to achieve taste layers the way perfumers create layers of scent in perfume. Sweet and carrot-y gives way to the rich taste of white chocolate. Spicy cinnamon changes to ginger then cloves and cardamom, and then finally a slow burn from a pinch of cayenne. Carrot and pineapple are expected but the toasted coconut adds a wonderful dimension in the texture and flavor.

Hope you like it.

Carrot Cake

2 1/2 c flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cardamom

1/4 -1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 c sweetened coconut toasted

1 c chopped walnuts

2 c grated carrots

1 c white chocolate chips

1 c drained crushed pineapple

1 c oil

4 eggs

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

1 Tbs vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon flavoring

Preheat oven to 350

Grease and flour a 13x 9 pan

Mix dry ingredients together

Mix oil and sugars together until blended. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in dry ingredients and then stir in nuts, carrots, white chocolate, coconut and pineapple. Pour into prepared pan and bake about 45 minutes.

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 c unsalted butter, room temp

1 c powdered sugar

1/4 c coconut milk (shake the can, the one that is the most solid is the best)

1 tbs vanilla

1/2 tsp rum flavor

Mix cream cheese and butter until well blended. Add the sugar, then the coconut milk and extracts. Beat until creamy and light.

Oh, and Kyrie required that we sing Jingle Bells to him before we sang happy birthday. So, our friends that have 4 boys still at home, and our kids, and us, a total of 14 people all sang Jingle Bells heartily before we sang happy birthday…Kyrie was pleased. He could hardly blow out his candles he was laughing so hard.

Have I mentioned how thankful I am for my family and the few close friends I do have? Because I am. Very.