Friday, September 11, 2009

Carrot cakes and new cookbook...


My son-in-law, Eddie, called and asked if I could have a 1/4 sheet carrot cake ready for him to take to work on Friday as a thank you to his co-workers, as it is his last day at T-Mobile. So I found this great recipe for carrot cake and cream cheese icing in my new cookbook, America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. The recipe calls for a whole lb. of carrots, which makes the cake moist, and a perfect blend of spices. I'm still having a little problem with my carrot cakes sinking slightly in the center due to high altitude, even though I added a little extra flour. I think next time I will try raising the oven temperature slightly and baking the cake for a shorter time. The cream cheese icing recipe called for an extra ingredient that I have not used before...sour cream. This recipe is not too sweet and whips up very nice and fluffy. This is not an icing you can do detailed decorating with, but it ices the cake very nicely, and tastes great!

Cream Cheese Icing

(2) 8 oz. bricks of cream cheese
10 T. softened butter
2 T. sour cream
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla together at med. low speed until smooth. Add the sugar slowly and beat at low speed until smooth. Turn up the mixer speed to med. high, and beat until light and fluffy.



2 comments:

Leisel said...

I checked a book out of the library a few months back called "Pie in the Sky". The authors had done a lot of research regarding baking at high altitudes, and every recipe in there had ingredients and directions specific to a number of different altitudes.

Anyhow... it might be worth checking out to see if they have any suggestions that solve that sinking problem.

- Leisel

Cathy Leavitt said...

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to check it out. Thanks also for visiting my blog.