Special Carrot Cake & an Anniversary

Last week Danny & me celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Even though we knew each other for past 13 years, I still get goosebumps thinking about our wedding day. Like every anniversary, we like to celebrate it with some good home cooked dinner, a bake-from-scratch cake and occasionally a glass of wine, unlike going out to a restaurant.(Even though we never know when we will discontinue this tradition).And since this year was extra special for us(the reason to be revealed later), I thought baking a carrot cake would be perfect.

Well, you might think whats so special about carrot cake? Its just another ordinary cake. But when we have  memories attached to some things in life, it becomes extra special. I still remember, as a newly wed, standing next to a bakery counter in a local supermarket in US with Danny, awestruck with all these beautiful display of cakes and tarts. And when he asked me which one do we need to take home, I spend good 15 min deciding which cake to select :-) And then went for carrot cake. At home, while I was digging into the cake, still remember the rich sweet moist carrot cake in contrast with the tangy cream cheese frosting. That cake swept me off.

Once I started baking shortly after that, I tried different recipes for carrot cakes, like the Paula Deen's carrot cake with pineapple, shredded coconut etc and again Ina Gartens' carrot cake with raisins, brown sugar etc. But my favorite recipe of carrot cake comes from Joy of Baking because it's a simple,straightforward recipe. The best part of this recipe is that I could add the extra ingredients like crushed pineapple or coconut if I want to or keep it simple as it is. 

Special Carrot Cake

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

1. All purpose flour – 2 cups

2. Baking powder – 1 tsp

3.Baking soda – ½ tsp

4. Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp

5. Ground nutmeg – ½ tsp

6. Salt – ½ tsp

7. Sugar – 1 ½ cups

8. Oil(vegetable,sunflower or canola) – 1 cup

9. Eggs – 4

10. Finely grated carrot – 3 cups

11. Raisins – ½ cup

12. Walnuts or Cashewnuts – ½ cup

13. Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C

2. Butter two - 8 x 2 cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper.

3. Toast the cashewnuts or walnuts until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

4. Peel and finely grate the carrots.

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

6. In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute).

7. Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 - 4 minutes).

8. Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract.

9. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated.

10. With a large spatula/spoon fold in the grated carrots,chopped nuts and raisins.

11. 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.

12. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack/plate.

13. If desired, frost the cake with cream cheese frosting.

Special Carrot Cake is ready to serve.

Notes to Remember

* Do not open the oven door for at least first 20 min.After 20 min, if the top of the cake is already browned(depends on oven), can place a piece of aluminium foil on top of the pan to avoid excessive browning on the top.

*We could bake this cake 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.

* This cake tastes best when eaten a day after its baked. Refrigerate any leftovers.

So for our Anniversary, I made Special Carrot Cake and my boy Aaron helped me, which made the whole process EXTRA SPECIAL.
This time I didn't frost the cake, rather, I made a small amount of cream cheese frosting and served it as side.It made my job easier and still we could have taste of tanginess and sweetness in every slice.Since I made very small amount of frosting with my own measurements, I am not posting the  recipe for frosting here. But we can get the recipe from here. This time I couldn't take many pictures of the cake.Next time I bake this cake, will sure post some more pics.