Please, please make this cake immediately!  Carrots are on sale, people!  They’re an excellent source of antioxidants and vitamin A, for pitty’s sake! A big hunk of cake pairs swimmingly with a glass of calcium-rich milk!  And seriously, do you really need a reason?!!

Help, my exclamation mark key seems to be stuck!!

Share this goodness with your family, friends, neighbors, and countrymen.  Heck, save it for the Easter Bunny if you’re so inclined.  Or, do what I did.  Set this cake on a pretty cake stand, then take it with you to the farthest reaches of your house.  A closet is good.  Make sure you also have with you a big fork and large glass of cold milk.  Shut the door.  Dig in.  Be at peace.

Or, don’t be like me.  Have you seen my thighs lately?

Nom, nom, nom……

OLD FASHIONED CARROT CAKE

Serves:  12

Source:  allrecipes.com

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 c. flour
• ½ t. salt
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1t. baking powder
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 2 c. grated carrot (for me this was one giant one; they’re on sale)

• ½ c. butter, softened
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 c. powdered sugar
• 2 t. vanilla

• 1 c. toasted pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl, blend together the sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs until well blended.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Add to the sugar mixture and combine well.  Add in the carrots and stir until just blended.

Choose your pan(s) and spray well with non-stick cooking spray.  I used two 8” rounds; you could use a bundt pan, cupcake tin, or 9×13” pan.  Pour in the cake batter; bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with loose crumbs attached, anywhere from 25-50 minutes, depending on the pan you’ve chosen.

Remove cake to a rack and cool completely.  Make the frosting by creaming together the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl.  Gradually add in the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat to blend.  Add the pecans if desired.  Alternately, you could top the cake with the chopped pecans as a garnish.

Until recently, I haven’t considered myself to be much of a baker.  I don’t much delve into the world of yeast doughs or pie crusts  (kitchen confession:  I’m intimidated by yeast.  Scares the b’jeepers outta me!).  Sendiks offers perfectly good pizza dough and French baguettes, and Pillsbury makes a fine pie crust.  So, as far as my baking expertise goes, cookies and cakes are about all I’m good for.

Today I have for you a little Valentine’s Day inspiration -– a couple of sweet ideas for you to bake up for the Valentines in your life!  One is over-the-top, and the other a bit more subdued.  You can probably tell from the photos which is which!

The cake…OH, the CAKE!  It’s super moist, absolutely amazing, and not at all difficult to concoct.  I made it in a heart-shaped bundt pan (everybody say ‘awe’!), but you could certainly divide it into two 9” rounds and use your favorite buttercream recipe for a layer cake.  I went the ganache route, but you could skip the frosting step all together and simply dust the cake with powdered sugar if you like.  I also recommend plopping a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside each slice for good measure (gild the lily much, Leah?!).

As for the brownies: supposedly they’re ‘low fat’, although that seems like kind of a laugh to me.  Maybe ‘low-ER’ fat is more like it.  They’re decent, as far as a reduced fat brownie goes … definitely more cakey than fudgy.  I’m just throwing them out there for you…y’know, to give you a ‘healthier’ option.  Personally, they’re not my cup of tea (just keepin’ it real); I’d rather have a fudgy brownie.  These definitely could use a plop of ice cream!

Anyway, guilt “free” or guilt”y” — you decide.  I’ll never judge!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

SUPER MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Serves: 12-14

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 ¾ c. flour
• 1 ½ t. baking powder
• 1 ½ t. baking soda
• ¾ c. good quality unsweetened cocoa
• 1 t. salt

• 2 eggs
• 1 c. milk
• ½ c. vegetable oil
• 2 t. vanilla
• ¾ c. hot, strong coffee (I used ¾ c. hot water and 2 t. instant Sanka)

For Ganache:

• ¾ c. heavy cream
• ½ lb. semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease well and flour two 9” baking pans, one 9×13” pan, or a bundt pan.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients.  Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Beat on high for 2 minutes.  Stir in the coffee by hand (the batter will be very thin).  Pour the batter in to the prepared pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes for round pans, and 35-40 minutes for a 9×13, and 40-45 minutes for a bundt pan, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire cooling racks or a cake stand.  Frost as desired, or dust with powdered sugar.  For a bundt cake, ice with chocolate ganache, or dust with powdered sugar.

For ganache, pour whipping cream into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Remove from heat and immediately add the chopped chocolate to the pan.  Allow to sit for a few minutes, then stir until  the chocolate is all melted and mixture is glossy.  Immediately pour ganache over the bundt cake, allowing ganache to run down the sides.  Cut and serve and enjoy!

LOWER-FAT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Makes:  24

Source:  foodnetwork.com

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 T. butter
• 1 c. flour
• ¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ t. salt
• ¼ t. baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 1 c. packed light brown sugar
• ½ c. plain low-fat yogurt
• ¼ c. canola oil
• 2 t. vanilla
• ¾ c. Heath Bar bits, mini chocolate chips, or chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9×13”pan with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until smooth.  Add the yogurt, oil, and vanilla and whisk until combined.  Add the chocolate-butter mixture and whisk until blended.  Add the flour mixture and mix until just moistened.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and sprinkle with your topping of choice.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached (do not over bake).  Cool completely in the pan.  Cut into 24 squares and serve.

Wish I was more like her.  *sigh*

Obviously healthy choices are a good thing, but there should be room in everyone’s diet for a little treat now and again – especially for our kiddos who’ve worked hard at their studies all day and come home with the grumbelly’s.  All of my kids unanimously agree that this cake ROCKS.  I tell myself that it’s healthy because it calls for three huge bananas and two cartons of yogurt!

This is the perfect lunch box treat, after school snack, or casual (very casual, like don’t go serving it to your husband’s boss) dessert, and is a great way to use up any super-ripe bananas you have hanging around.  I have a BUNCH, because at .39 / pound this week, I bought some every time I went to the Store.  A little birdie told me they’ll be back on sale again tomorrow.  This cake also makes good use of the Dannon yogurt that’s on special through tonight!

So go bananas; whip up this cake for your little monkeys this afternoon!

I like to make this in two 8” round cake pans and freeze one for a rainy day.  Just cool the cake completely before you wrap it tightly and put it in the freezer.

BANANA SNACK CAKE

Serves:  10-12

Source:  Adapted from Epicurious.com

• 2 c. flour
• ¾ t. baking soda
• ½ t. baking powder
• ½ t. salt

• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 – 6 oz. containers of vanilla yogurt (I used the Sale Dannon)
• 3 – 3 ½ very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 c. mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9×13 baking pan with non-stick spray (or see note above regarding smaller pans and freezing).  In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients and set aside.  Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until blended.  Add the eggs and beat until fluffy.  Mix in the yogurt and bananas.  Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and beat until blended.  Add the chocolate chips if desired.  Transfer batter to baking pan(s).

Bake cake until top is golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.  Cool completely on rack; slice and serve.

There’s nothing like the raucous shrieks and laughter from the kids splashing around in the lake, playing “king of the raft” and dousing each other with squirt guns.  We tried for hours to exhaust both Daisy and Lola (the DamDog, and our friend’s golden retriever, respectively) by firing tennis balls, sticks, and frisbees by the dozen off the dock; the energy level of these dogs is endless, amazing and hilarious at the same time!   I’ll admit I’m an easy audience, but I can’t help laughing my flippin’ head off every single time these crazy canines would swan dive off the pier into the lake, each trying to beat the other to whichever object had been thrown into the water.

Ahhhh, good times.  Lake living is the BEST!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the fantastic dinner we had that evening, and the fabulous view of the lake we enjoyed while dining on top of our friend’s boathouse.  Grilled hanger steak, three fabulous salads, and several bottles of red wine later, our husbands each dubbed the menu by far, “The Best Dinner of Summer”.  I had to agree!

(By the way, one of the salads was the Panzanella I blogged about a few days ago.  If you’d like to check it out, just do a quick search and the recipe will pop right up.)

We had the perfect night’s sleep with a soft breeze blowing through an open window, and the sound of crickets chirping….heavenly!  We all awoke to the delicious smell of homemade pancakes and a fluffy, savory ham strata.  As for the pancakes, they’re another story all together, but we’ll have to wait for buttermilk to go on sale before I tell you about them!

I  brought this coffee cake as part of a hostess gift.  I love to make this cake when fresh blueberries are on sale, but it could of course be made with frozen berries in the dead of winter.  Speaking of freezing, I’ve doubled the recipe and frozen one for a rainy day;  I’ve made it in round cake pans, loaf pans, and muffin tins too, with no trouble.  You’ll be a welcome overnight guest wherever you go if you take this coffeecake along, or try it out on guests of your own!

BLUEBERRY COFFEECAKE

Serves:  6-8

Source:  Epicurious.com

For the cake:

• ¼ c. vegetable oil
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ c. milk
• 1 ½ c. flour, sifted
• ¾ c. sugar
• 2 t. baking powder
• ½ t. salt

For the topping:

• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1 T. flour
• 1 t. cinnamon
• ½ c. chopped nuts (I’ve used either walnuts or pecans)
• 1 T. butter, melted
• ¾ c. fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375.  Combine the oil, egg, and milk.  Sift together dry ingredients and add them to the milk mixture.  Mix well.  In another bowl, combine all the ingredients for the topping.

Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 9 x 2” pan.  Sprinkle the berries evenly over the batter.  Top the berries with the nut mixture.  Bake in for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with loose crumbs attached.   Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.