Wilmington Weekend: Paula Deen's Carrot Cake

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday actually, but I was too busy celebrating myself to do a post. To top off the food bonanza that was my most recent trip to Wilmington, my mom baked a carrot carrot for Quin's and my birthdays.

She used Paula Deen's recipe (as one should when baking) so you know this cake was extra delicious. And healthy.

Sadly, I only have a few pictures since some ants got to the cake before the candles. They only raided the bottom layer so we just removed that and munched onward. Don't judge.

Paula Deen's Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

Butter, for pans

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 cups grated carrots

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional

Frosting:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick salted butter, room temperature

1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round pans; Line bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans, if using.

Pour into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on waxed paper and allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Stir in the nuts. Spread frosting on top of each cake layer. Stack the cakes on a serving plate and serve.

[Recipe from The Food Network]

Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

My second real attempt at baking went much better than the first.

Fancy

Quin has always been the baker in the family. I, on the other hand, butcher every cake or confection I touch. There was the high school Spanish project of the sunken orange pound cake (Note to self: don't shake a cake to determine if it's done). Oops. More recently there was the caramel icing turned powder. I felt a little better about myself when I heard this was a difficult recipe. 

How?

We're really amping up our kitchen supplies these days so I thought Valentine's Day would be the perfect excuse to test out the new hand mixer. Personally I don't have a problem with V-Day, coupled up or single. I appreciate any holiday that let's you celebrate especially one with sweet treats and champagne. For instance, my breakfast this morning was chocolate covered strawberries. Money.

These brownies are sure to impress and easy enough for a baking newb like me to handle. Bring these to work, give to your roomies, eat them all yourself. Whatever. No judgment here.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Ingredients:

For the red velvet brownies:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon red food coloring

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

2 eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the cheesecake filling:

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan with butter.

In a large bowl, comine the melted 8 tablespoons butter with the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, food coloring and salt, stirring to combine. Then stir in the white vinegar.Whisk together the eggs in a small bowl, and then stir them into the brownie batter. Fold in the flour, just until combined, then pour the batter into the prepared pan, reserving 1/4 cup of the batter for the topping.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a handheld electric mixer), blend together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk until well combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture in an even layer over the brownie batter then top the cream cheese with dollops of the remaining brownie batter. Using a sharp knife or toothpick, swirl the cream cheese together with the dollops of brownie batter.

Bake the brownies for 35 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely before slicing and serving.

[Recipe adapted slightly from Just a Taste.]

You know you love me.