I'm Not There for the Football

Apparently my craving for carrot cake was not satisfied through scones, even if they were delicious. Super Bowl meant a cake. Lots of things mean cake, but whatever, I needed a cake for the Super Bowl and looking for something without chocolate (and after ditching football shaped cupcakes...) I came across a recipe that I've had on my to-do list for quite sometime.

I've seen recipes for Hummingbird Cake on more than one occasion, and fortunately the pages of my new favorite baking book are graced with one! Although I was little confused... the recipe is called Hummingbird Carrot Cake, and yet recipe made no mention of carrots beyond the title! And so trouble ensued, I could not make a carrot cake without carrots, and therefore I decided to take some creative liberty. Ordinarily, cooking can be freestyle whereas baking is a more exact science and recipes should be respected. I've come to find, however, that what's important is that you keep the base batter true to the recipe's directions and beyond that you should be free to add just about anything you'd like, as long as your ingredients are kept to a reasonable volume.

From what I've observed, Hummingbird cakes tend to be a spin off carrot cake with crushed pineapple and sometimes coconut. So after I was shocked to find the carrot part neglected in this particular version I used it as more of a recommendation list than an actual recipe. The recipe called for basic batter ingredients, with crushed pineapple, pecans, and finely chopped banana. Yum. But I decided to add a good two cups of shredded carrot and some raisins, which I made room for by cutting the pecans and banana in half. The best part of a cake like this is the texture. Not only is it decadently moist, but the carrots, raisins, pineapple, and banana all contribute a different chewiness and the pecans add a fantastic crunch.

TIP! I've seen this numerous times before, but hadn't tried it until now. There's a fantastic way to get a little more chew out of raisins when baking! Raisins are dehydrated grapes, right? So if you rehydrate them a little bit they plump up and have great moisture and texture. I did this with my golden raisins by letting them steep in really hot water for about five minutes, and it was a fantastic idea. You can also heat liquor or other flavor lending liquids to steep dried fruit in for plumping. Raisins plumped in rum are a really good addition to a rich cake! (Or so I hear).

ANOTHER TIP! This one I've seen numerous times and have utilized numerous times! I made blueberry bread a little while back and neglected to add this step because I was in a rush and regretted in later. I mixed my blueberries into my batter, but they all sunk to the bottom! The top was just sweet bread and all the blueberries were hidden in the bottom, not cool. To make sure you're ingredients (in this case, shredded carrots and raisins) stay evenly suspended in your batter, sprinkle them with some flour before mixing them into the batter. If the pieces have a light dusting of flour, they stick to the batter and don't sink!







And so my loaded batter was poured into three cake pans, because two layers just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. But what is cake, no matter how many layers, without a good frosting? Carrot cakes are classically topped with a cream cheese frosting, but I decided to fudge the recipe for this one a little bit too... I added a couple teaspoons of cinnamon to partner with a splash of vanilla extract. I don't think you could really taste the cinnamon, but it added a lovely rustic color to the icing! I dusted the top with ground pecans and placed a couple pecan halves in the center to pretend I know how to decorate :)



ONE LAST TIP! So I made that epic fail chocolate ice cream cake a while ago, right? Well in that mess I discovered something quite delicious. The cake actual cake layers dried out a bit after being frozen, so I decided to "rehydrate" them a little bit by pouring some milk over my frozen slice of cake. What made me decide to do this? I just don't know. But it was genius! I decided to try it with carrot cake and stuck a slice of my Hummingbird Cake in the freezer overnight. EPIC! Frozen cake + milk = delicious. Try it. So good.

Carrots and Spice and Everything Nice

I have to admit, I made these quite some time ago, two weeks I believe! I was distracted with life and other recipes and put my hasty photographs on the back burner (figuratively ;) ), but better late than never, right? Besides, I wouldn't want you to miss out on yet another baked good! They are starting to feel somewhat rare these days...

I want to say it was a Saturday morning. Although I was up semi-early, which is unfortunately my nature, I was waiting on Taylor to find his way out of bed to start the day. I simply couldn't bring myself to wake him, so I, of course, decided to kill the hour or so with a quick recipe! It was still a little early to be thinking about cakes or cookies, so I turned to my favorite breakfast sweet, scones.

Anyone who claims they don't like scones is a liar. If you don't like scones, you're simply eating the wrong ones. The absolutely divine characteristic of scones is that they can be whatever you'd like them to be. Although in America they tend to be sweet, including ingredients like dried fruits, orange zest, cinnamon, pumpkin, nuts, poppy seeds, and so on, they also exist in a number of savory varieties available as well. The British often add raisins, currants, cheese, or dates. Potato scones can be found in Scotland, and other countries one may encounter scones with cheese, onion, and bacon! Um... YUM! They can be baked or fried, thick or thin, light or heavy, the possibilities are seemingly endless!

I, however, in my attempt to make my baked goods appear a little healthier, was attracted to a carrot cake scone recipe. Carrots and raisins folded into a thick cinnamon spiked scone batter was intriguing and a cream cheese glaze won me over. I will admit, I upped the health ante and replaced half the flour with whole wheat flour. Whole wheat is just has so much more depth of flavor, and feels so much better to eat!







Of course, where I make healthy strides I tend to counterattack them with equally unhealthy embellishments, and I didn't fail here! The cream cheese glaze was delicious, though not aesthetically pleasing enough for my taste. The recipe recommended decorating the scone tops with cinnamon or coconut, so I thought "why not both?" Coconut, in my opinion, is best when it's lightly toasted. Before my handful of snowy coconut was oven-bound, I mixed in a bit of cinnamon to infuse in the heat. And so each of my carrot cake scones received a light layer of cream cheese glaze and a dusting of cinnamon toasted coconut.





They were fairly well received, I quite enjoyed the one or two I ended up polishing off! They are a lovely breakfast go-to and would certainly make wonderful company to a cup of hot tea. The recipe is simple and quick, a wonderful go to for a homemade breakfast within an hour, for those of you who simply are too lazy to tackle the art of bagel making!