Monday, April 19, 2010

How Many Carrots are in a 5 lb. Bag?

You do the math...
Five pounds of carrots. 
For a family of four
Three recipes down. 
Two weeks later. 
One boatload of carrots leftover. 

There are still 32 carrots left in the bag! What the heck do I do with all of them? We've already made...
  1. 16 pints of my dad's homemade spaghetti sauce.
  2. one 8" doggie carrot cake for the dog's birthday party.
  3. one kick-ass two-layer human carrot cake for the humans at the dog's party.


Plus, we've peeled and eaten about a dozen of them straight from the bag.

So...what's the total? Do you care? Or are you smarter than a former-5th-grade-teacher and know better than to buy a bag of carrots at BJ's?

HELP! What can I do with the rest of these carrots before they wind up on the neighbor's compost heap?!?!?

What Am I Going to Be When I Grow Up?
8. Home-Economics Teacher  
 ________________________________________________________________________
Kick-Ass Carrot Cake

(adapted from a Barefoot Contessa recipe)

Ingredients 

For the cake:


  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 pound carrots, grated
  • 8 oz can crushed pineapple, in juice

For the frosting:


  • 3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 8 oz. confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

For the cake:

Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow. Add the vanilla. 

In another bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, the cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisins with 1 tablespoon flour. 

Fold in the carrots and pineapple. Add to the batter and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 35 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set over a wire rack.

For the frosting:

Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until just combined. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

3 comments:

lisa and laura said...

Oh. My. God. I want that cake NOW. Seriously. Please. If I beg will you send me a piece? I'm having a really shitty day over here.

Anonymous said...

We could use the carrots over here! My bunny loves them!

Raederle said...

I know my advice is way too late, but my husband and I love carrot juice. We easily juice 20 large carrots at once and then drink them in one sitting.