All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Friday, March 29, 2013

the Easter carrot cake




This is a post from 2009 that I never got around to updating.  The 2 year old is now 7, and we have a new 2 year old at the table this year, but the Easter cake is always this one.  Hope to finally update on Easter Day this year:)  Happy Easter to you all!






This has become our traditional Easter cake - an old fashioned southern carrot cake with a cream cheese and butter icing, decorated with marizpan vegetables. This year, we had a two year old assisting, so our decorating wasn't as elaborate as it usually is. But the crowd was delightful , the dinner was grand, and for a few magical moments, we forgot about the four foot high hardpacked snow and ice outside and welcomed Spring!
to make:
2 or 3 cake pans, greased and floured
Preheat oven to 350.
the cake:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups flour ( I use King Arthur)
2 t. baking powder
2 t. (scant) baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
3 cups finely grated carrots, organic
Beat eggs; add sugar, oil, and dry ingredients. Add carrots and stir. Scoop batter into pans, about halfway full.
Bake about 35-45 minutes - sometimes it takes longer depending on the moisture content of the carrots. Done when the cake pulls away from the sides of the cake pan, and the middle is somewhat firm to the touch.
Remove to cooling rack. Run a knife around the edges of the cake, and cool 15 minutes. Take a spatula and gently loosen the underside of the cake. Flip onto another rack and cool completely before frosting.
the frosting:
1 large package cream cheese
1 stick softened unsalted butter
juice of a lemon
one box confectioner's sugar
Beat til creamy and pipe or spread on cake.
vegetables:
Mix food coloring into store bought marzipan ( I get it in tubes) - we just made green and orange, but you can get more eleborate.
Form into carrots and stick into frosting. Tradition is - the youngest child goes first pulling the carrots out of the cake.

3 comments:

La Table De Nana said...

Everything is coming up carrots Katrina!

How our tables change through the years!
It's adorable..
Happy Easter to you and your chicklets!

katrina said...

Thank you, Nana - and a joyful Easter to you and your tribe! My Easter grass is refusing to grow, but I'm crossing my fingers it will be up a little by Sunday. Thanks for reminding me - and happy egg hunting in the snow:)

diary of a tomato said...

Ah, so a snowy Easter isn't uncommon here in northern New England! What a happy-making cake!