Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A carrot a day will keep the (eye) doctor away


Although, when your family practitioner finds out you've been filling up on cake all week (and calling it vegetables) he might have a bone to pick with you.

Among carrots many health virtues is it's amount of Vitamin A. While it can't give you super night vision, it may protect against night vision difficulties, but "it's probable that people attributing poor driving ability to their vision may be eating more carrots in the hope of reversing this decline."* Sorry, not the best bit of research, but I’ve been a bit cramped for time this week.

As you can see, I skimped on the delicious icing. Having only two cake pans, I decided to cut the recipe in half and just use the two pans, and that everything would 'be cool'. This resulted in two very skimpy cakes (ok by me) and not nearly enough of the delicious icing (probably because I insisted on icing the outside too). I decreased the cook time to 30 minutes and the cakes were a little over done.

I was serving this cake to friends who weren't fond of raisins, or walnuts. So, instead of leaving them out all together, (I'm not that nice) I chose to throw in the biggest raisins and walnuts I could find (to aid in their pick-out-ability). The result was actually kind of humorous with the cake being so shrimpy and the mix-ins to gigantic.

I also changed up the frosting a bit. Not wanting to purchase lemon extract, I simply added a bit of lemon zest to the icing to amp up the lemon flavor. Although I like carrot cake this recipe felt a little confused with all the additional flavors (coconut, raisin, walnut, lemon). But that didn’t stop us from finishing it in record time.

One of the best things about this cake are the healthy mix-ins. While cooking (or baking, or studying, or...you know…) I usually snack on whatever I can find. In this case, I had the leftover carrot hunks that didn't get shredded in the food processor, raisins, and walnuts. A tasty AND healthy trio.

This is my weekly submission to Tuesdays with Dorie, hosted by Laurie of quirky cupcake. Check out all the other creations by my fellow TWD bakers. A big thank you to Amanda of slow like honey for picking this weeks recipe. Come back next week as we tackle Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake.

*Smith W, Mitchell P, Lazarus R. Carrots, carotene and seeing in the dark. Aust N Z J Ophthalmol. 1999 Jun-Aug;27(3-4):200-3.

17 comments:

Heather B said...

looks delicious! Great job!

Lori said...

You picked out the biggest raisins and walnuts, too funny!

CB said...

Man I wish eating carrots gave you xray vision! I'd be eating carrots at every meal. haha. Love that you were conscious of your friends "pick-out-ability". So funny! Cake looks yummy! Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Mary said...

the cake looks yummy! .....I had lots of unused carrots too that i've been munching on...does that balance out the cake eating??

Mari said...

Your cake doesn't look shrimpy at all, it looks perfect!

Melissa said...

I love how you've convinced me this is a healthy dessert!

Annemarie said...

I love that you added GIANT mix ins...that is really funny! I looks great!

Bumblebutton said...

Well that is a positive spin on eating dessert--hope you do it with all the TWD recipes! Nice job, big raisins and all!

Anonymous said...

That slice looks yummmmmy. But our use of frosting is what separates us from the animals. Load up!

Anonymous said...

Skimp on cake if you must, but never skimp on frosting : )

LyB said...

I love all the add-ins so there's no way I'd pick them out! Your cake looks delicious!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Great job with this cake! Carrots are so delicious and good for you - I love that about this cake!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

thanks for providing medical evidence that carrot cake is in fact healthy! i feel better about that 1/2 cake i ate now...

Anonymous said...

I love your naughty mischievous ways! Putting in the biggest raisins! Ha Ha! Made me chuckle!
Great Job! You're right, needed more frosting!

Cecilia said...

Your story is so funny. Next time you make this recipe, try making cupcakes. They are the perfect serving size! Great job on the cake!

Sharon said...

Yummy! I too was confused by all the mix-ins. I did add the raisens and nuts, but I left out the coconut - was scared it would be overwhelming.

SYD said...

Looks good. I have to try this..