Carrot Cake

I think I'm improving at this baking thing.

Slowly, but surely.

I started to bake around fifth grade, which was approximately... 9234758273847362 years ago. I used to buy those 99 cent blueberry muffin mixes from the grocery store. Ooh, and those corn muffin mixes in the tiny blue and white boxes. Fun little things.

Back then it was too easy. An egg and a half cup of oil. Sometimes just a half cup of milk. Mix. Pour. Bake. Don't burn down the apartment. Eat. Share with little brother.

Now I have to measure flour. Correctly. (Yes, there is a correct way to measure flour!) There's "folding" the batter that's mixing but not really mixing mixing. Yes, that one extra step matters. Reminder: measuring spoons are there for a reason.

Now I've also grown up and started to bake wonderful things, like this carrot cake! It's so wonderfully moist, fragrant, and oh so beautiful, in my opinion. (I admit I did stare at it for a while before sending it off.)  The decoration is just piped star tips on top and shells at the bottom. The tiny pecan pieces added another dimension of elegance to the cake. It was that easy.

A huge improvement from basic frosted cake, and also from a botched carrot cake that went just so wrong but inspired awesome pancakes. High-five, self.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• one 8-oz cream cheese
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp of milk to adjust consistency of frosting, if necessary

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two 9 inch round layers pans.
2. Beat together the oil, sugars, salt, eggs, and spices. Mix the flour with the baking soda, and stir in. Add the carrots and nuts, and mix until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting. Make sure that you remove the cakes from the pans after about 15 minutes out of the oven, and onto cooling racks.
4. For the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the salt and vanilla. Beat in the sugar. Add a tablespoon of milk if the frosting is too stiff to spread; add additional sugar if it's too thin. 

Adapted from King Arthur Flour