Chocolate Chai Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting — 100th post! HUZZAH! HURRAY!

Well, time flies and so do posts! I can’t believe this is my hundredth post, and squashing 100 posts into a year filled with grad school, internships, and family devastation has been a bit of a whirlwind. I’ve loved almost every post, and am looking forward to 100 more! I was going to do a giveaway for this occasion but have to amass things to give away first, though I have some book-like ideas, but also I have NO activity in the comments, for all the lovely readers I have. Hmm. I must need to be more provocative in my posts, thought provoking rather. Still figuring out the engagement bit of all of this.

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Carrot Cake

I have to tell you something before you scroll down to the intro photo. There was not enough time for me to take a good photo of this cake. We made it Friday night and were so busy once the party got started that I didn’t have a chance to slip away and take nice shots of the cut cake. So… what you see below is all that is left, it is a broken, half-smooshed tiny piece. Also, I too have kitchen issues, I definitely grated my finger in the process (don’t worry, it didn’t get in with the carrots) and have been band-aided for two days. Sigh. In all, I hope you know that this means that this carrot cake was too good for photos. Don’t judge this delicious cake by the photo…

We made some of my dad’s favourite foods for his party and the desserts were no exception. Dad has always loved carrot cake, so of course it was on the menu. We also made Saskatoon Blueberry Pie and Saskatoon Blueberry Plum Apple Pie, so stay tuned for those on Thursday. This carrot cake was a big hit, I had many requests for it to be posted and rightfully so, it is moist, perfectly sweet and everything we’d hoped! Dad would’ve loved it, and that is exactly what we wanted.

Carrot Cake

Cake recipe adapted from here.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsps baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsps ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 3/4 tsp cardamon
  • 1 3/4 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups shredded carrots
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 (14 oz) can pineapple tidbits (or crushed), drained
  • 1 cup walnuts, crushed (optional)

Cream Cheese Icing

  • 1 (250 g) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cardamon, and cinnamon.
  3. Add sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir well, mixing until smooth.
  4. Stir in carrots, coconut, and pineapple. (add walnuts now too)
  5. Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. The centre might sink a bit, it didn’t for me, but don’t fear!
  6. Cool completely before frosting.
  7. To make the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla, beat until creamy and fluffy, add more sugar as needed for the desired texture.
  8. Even better, frost with the mascarpone whipped cream frosting from the Guinness Cupcakes!