The Story of K2's Last Birthday Cake in L Town

K2 is moving at the end of the month. So we have been having a month of lasts around the office. (K2's last time emailing an agenda. K2's last time printing calenders for the scheduling book. K2's last time doing this and doing that.) K2's last birthday in L Town was last week so I had to make her last birthday cake in L Town.

I have had the plan for months to bake her a carrot cake. She has mentioned several times that she really enjoys carrot cake, even if it may only be because it has cream cheese frosting. I have never made carrot cake before but I figured it was not going to be difficult. The hardest part was going to be choosing which recipe to try. I had a lot of recipes to choose from (12 total - 6 cake, 4 cupcakes, and 2 cookies). Some had nuts, some didn't, some had pineapple, some didn't. Nuts I have eaten in carrot cake, pineapple. . . I wasn't sure. Then the heavens opened up and the angels started singing as in my reader appeared Sigrid's Carrot Cake posted by Ree (The Pioneer Woman). I have commented several times on how awesome Ree is. This should make a believer out of you. (Yes, I know it happened to me and not you but since I know all of you live vicariously through me since I lead such an exciting fun-filled life it is LIKE it happened to you so you should now be a believer too.)

Since cupcakes are easier to serve than cake I made cupcakes. Cupcakes are once again the bane of my existence. Seriously, when I removed the cupcakes from the oven, the top looked sort of like a cake. Grrrr. . . So I scraped the spilled out part of the cupcakes back into the individual cupcake papers because with out that part there was hardly anything in the cupcake paper. Needless to say, after doing that the cupcakes looked like ass. Even the fact that they tasted delicious was not going to overshadow the fact that they looked like total ass. Icing was not going to help the matter. So I made a cake. (What?! Wouldn't you do the same?) The cake (and cupcakes) were delicious. They were moist and the cream cheese icing was perfect.

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Sigrid's Carrot Cake
from The Pioneer Woman
Print Recipe

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 whole eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots

Icing:
1 stick regular butter, softened
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 lb powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecans, chopped finely

Mix together the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. In another bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Then add carrots and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured pan (bundt, sheet cake, 9 x 13 baking dish) and bake until done, 25 to 50 minutes, depending on the pan you use. Cool completely. Prepare the icing: In larger bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in the nuts. Spread on cooled carrot cake.

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