Here comes another sunny weekend as Friday crawls off into the corner. There aren't many bad things I could comment on at this point. Life is good! I wish I could say I have been working out like a demon; but I havent. I wish I could say that I missed it like New York Cheesecake; but I havent. But I do wish I was surrounded by all my friends and their smiles. Anyway, its been a long week thats about to end and the weekend looks pretty good from the front porch of Friday. My iPOD and I have become inseperateable and thats probably not good at least for the people I send my days around. Nonetheless, hey, he's an artist — they're allowed to be wierd, strange, mysterious and just plain moody. Speaking of all those great things; how about some of this Friday Fixin' with a big bowl of twice churned vanilla bean ice cream.
....Friday Fixins; All the better to see you with!!!!!
Everybody who knows me well knows that butter or cream cheese make everything better! Thats just a fact of life. Throw in some mushrooms and how could you go wrong!
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
For the carrot cake:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 egg
1 egg white
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup grated carrots
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup drained, canned, crushed pineapple
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional
Nonstick cooking spray
For the cream cheese icing:
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking Instructions
For the moist delicious carrot cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the butter and eggs from the refrigerator to allow them to come to room temperature.
2. Place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Gradually add the brown sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very fluffy.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and egg white. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg and carrots.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
5. Fold in half the flour mixture. Stir in the pineapple, raisins and walnuts. Fold in the rest of the flour mixture. The batter should be smooth, but do not over mix.
6. Coat a 10-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until the cake is golden brown and set in the center, about 35 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
For the cream cheese icing:
1. In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla together until the mixture is smooth.
2. Using a spoon or spatula, spread the icing on top of the cooled cake. Store the cake in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Cut the cake into 12 pieces and allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Thats all I got for you today. Major blogdom coming soon. Have a great one and remember something good about anyone you dislike. Pass me another piece of that Superman Carrot Cake. It promotes internal vision! ...but that may be too strong for you....LOL CHEERS!
