Mom look here:
Snackin'-Dino'-Carrot-CakeThis summer includes the kids and getting them in the kitchen. We want to learn kitchen math and how to measure. So...meet the carrot cake of love. I'm Face. I was in charge. This carrot cake is one that we have really enjoyed for years. It's simple enough that the kiddos can make it, and good enough to eat that adults won't mind it. It uses whole wheat flour and a lot of carrots, so it really is a notch healthier than regular carrot cake. Our dad Ace, who is not a big cake eater, had 4 or 5 pieces. We count that as a good baking day if he will go nuts like that.
First gather your ingredients. In this case, the kids gathered the ingredients and measure them. This way we can really see it first hand. Mom adapted a recipe that she got out of a church cookbook and had around since she was a teenager. It's really old.
You will need:
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (use 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup apple sauce if you want it lower fat)
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour (cake or pastry flour)
1T cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt3 cups grated carrots
1 cup nuts or raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees or open your
Solar Oven and get it heating up. This step is important. It makes it so the cake cooks right. Make sure you do it before you start mixing your cake.
In a large mixing bowl (we have one we use for 2 bags of microwave popcorn that is big enough for this). Crack the eggs into the bowl. Put in the sugar, vanilla and oil. Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil with a wire whisk until light lemon color.
Whisk it a lot. Add flour, cinnamon, soda, and salt.
Mix just until combined. That means just until the flour is wet and not to mix much more. Just until everything is mixed.
Add the carrots. If you use nuts or raisins...add them here too.
Grease a pan. It helps to measure the pan just so you are sure it is the right size for the baking time. If the pan is bigger it will cook faster. If the pan is smaller, it may not be big enough to hold the cooked cake and the batter will probably overflow in the hot oven. I know you want to eat the cake, not scrape it off the bottom of the oven. Right? So, once you measure your pan it needs to be a 9 inch wide by 13 inched long and at least 2 1/2 inches deep. Rectangle is what we used, but if you use a round pan, you can cook 2 8 inch rounds. or 1 10 inch that is 3 inches deep or more. I use either pan spray or shortening and cover all the inside of the pan with it. Make sure you don't miss any spots. Sometimes I sprinkle a small amount of flour (like a tsp) into the bottom of the pan a then shake the pan to spread out the flour.
Once mixed, pour it into a greased 9 inch by 13 inch cake pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Solar oven took about one hour.We waited about 30 minutes and then frosted with a light cream cheese frosting. You can use the tub bought from the store or make your own. That recipe will be on here soon. We wanted to make it look like a dinosaur...so we gave it an almond spine. If you want a lower fat experience, try it
unfrosted. It is still really good.
Make sure you have a couple gallons of milk around.There you go.
Good luck soldiers.
Good luck soldiers.
