Carrot Cake, the Noblest Birthday Cake of All.

It's my sister's 18th birthday!! Well, technically, it's her birthday tomorrow, but I'm home tonight to celebrate/bring the first round of my apartment things home. She's a big fan of carrot cake, so I decided to make her Moosewood's version as a birthday present.

The biggest issue with this cake is that I already packed up my salad shooter so I had to grate the carrots by hand. Definitely buy already shredded carrots whenever possible. Other than that, it's a pretty basic cake recipe, with lots of butter and eggs and deliciousness. Moosewood has some optional additions that you can include in your carrot cake, like poppy seeds on the outside, raisins, walnuts, and coconut. I am a purist, so I chose none of these things. But they probably would be pretty good (except maybe the coconut). Cream cheese frosting is a non-negotiable however. Moosewood has zero frosting recipes, but that's fine with me because the stuff from the can is the best anyway.

I should really be a professional food
photographer...

For some reason, Moosewood says to cook the cake in loaf pans or a 9x13 pan. I chose to use round cake pans because it's, you know, cake. This also meant that I could put a layer of cream cheese frosting between them, for maximum delicacy. One of the cake circles broke in half as I was putting it on top of the other, but I tried to use the frosting as a kind of glue to keep the whole thing together. Although, clearly one can of the stuff was not enough...

The batter for this cake is very thick; almost more like a dough than a batter. I really wish cookbooks would include information about how the recipe is supposed to look at certain stages because often times I feel a bit lost. My internal monologue gets all, "Okay, I followed your directions, but could you tell me if this is actually right...I don't think it is..."

Maybe some cookbooks have this, I don't know. Moosewood has these hints sprinkled throughout, but with no consistency or detail. I guess nothing I've made has failed too epically, but still I would appreciate the guidance.

Anyway, the cake turned out great and was SOOOOO good! Great way to celebrate a day of packing and unpacking and my wonderful sister's birthday!