Never Say Never

So much for sweeping statements.

Just a little while ago I mentioned how I never make carrot cake, "I don't like it so I don't know if James likes it or not". Written right here on this blog.

Call it my Rumsfeld moment, but we are in the information age and here already a few within a few weeks I have been proven a liar.

Well, we were going to some friends' house for dinner and I thought I'd bring dessert. I was feeling pretty lazy. I've been busy filling the freezer for James while I am out of town so, oddly enough, cooking for "day of" has taken somewhat of a backseat. And, I needed to clear out the space being taken up by that tub of delicious cream cheese frosting. Anyway, I just didn't feel up to my usual 3 layer red velvet cake -- too many pans to wash I figured. And so I pondered other cakes that take well to cream cheese frosting and landed on the dreaded carrot cake. Not the least of reasons was the 10lb bag of Bunny Love James had deposited in the fridge from his last "I'm going to start juicing again" run to Costco.

Simple, quick, and, I have to admit, not too bad. I used a simple serve in the cake pan recipe from the kitchen stalwart The King Arthur Flour Baking Book.

First I beat together 4 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of canola oil until they were light and -- as the recipe called for but I didn't really see, full of bubbles. Then I added 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup at time -- beating well after each addition, and 2 tsp of vanilla. In a separate bowl I mixed 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 TB of cinnamon, 2 tsps of baking soda and 1 tsp of salt. I gently mixed the dry ingredients into the wet, folded in 3 sups of finely grated carrots and 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, and popped the pan in to a 350º oven for about 50 minutes.

Easy one pan snack cake -- but barely a dent in the carrot supply.