Cakes and Vegetables: The Carrot Cake Chronicles

When it comes to baked goods, few have piqued my curiosity more than the concept of cooking a fruit or vegetable directly into bread (or cake).  To my limited conceptual abilities, it sounds like a terrible idea, and my intuition could not be more wrong!  Yesterday, I decided to invest in making my own carrot cake from scratch.  Invest is the appropriate word to use here because I just put everything I had into that cake.  Three whole cups of grated carrots is a serious commitment, so let this cake stand as proof that Jake does not shy away from commitment.

Anyway, no self-respecting carrot cake would be complete without its cream cheese buttercream frosting.  Being my first time making buttercream frosting, I learned a valuable lesson: confectioners' sugar is the worst baking ingredient ever invented.  It is like sand on a beach.  It takes too much effort to handle artistically, and it gets everywhere--I repeat: everywhere.

In the end, it was worth every measure of effort I poured into it.  The bread was aromatic and moist with a strong complement of carrot flavor and subtle hint of cinnamon.  The texture and consistency were soft, thick, and assertive; thus, making the cake pleasant to bite into.  Paired with the delicate sweetness of the buttercream, the carrot cake truly satisfies the taste buds.  In trying to do descriptive justice to the cake, sounding like a snob is pretty much unavoidable, but trust me when I tell you that it turned out really well!