It turns out that the food processor did not grate when set to "grate," and by the time all the carrot pieces were similar in size, there was only orange mush instead of gratings. After 1.5 hours spent producing two cups of mashed carrots, the food processor was clearly not a significant improvement over the small plastic grater at my apartment.
On the other hand, the full-sized stainless steel grater worked wonders. It quickly turned solid carrot into nice gratings in a uniform manner. This, compared to the little plastic grater at my place, appeared to work miracles. With extra gratings to spare, I decorated the top with orange "sprinkles" at my mother's suggestion. These gratings, it turns out, played a key role in appealing to my audience. Read on to find out why I believe so.
Interesting tidbit: many Chinese people of my parents' generation are practically allergic to added sugar. That is to say, they probably consume in one week the amount of added sugar that is contained in the average 3-course American meal plus beverage, and only because they avoid added sugar at all cost. Given these unfounded assumptions, the average Chinese adult would consume 21 times less sugar than his/her American counterpart.
So why is that important in a discussion about carrot cake? Because I was at an event with many Chinese adults of my parents' generation, and that little tidbit was the one hurdle that would deter them from stuffing their face with risen sugar and butter. The cool thing was that my mother helped me overcome that hurdle by suggesting I sprinkle extra carrot gratings on top of the buttercream frosting. My hypothesis on the psychological effect of this action: the cake appeared less likely to induce a heart attack, and a little more likely to provide a great source of beta-carotene straight out of the Earth.
The cake, it turns out, was a huge success, and later, I made the same cake to bring into the office.
No comments:
Post a Comment