Perfect Carrot Cake

I've never been a huge carrot cake fan. And then I found this amazing recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and I was changed forever!

You'll need...

For the cake:

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups grated carrots

For the icing:

8 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 pound powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Blend together sugar, oil, and eggs.

Sift all your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon) into the mixture - yup, just add it all in there.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until just blended. Then add carrots, and mix for about a minute.

Pour into a sheet pan that's been greased with Baker's Joy, and use a rubber spatula to make sure the batter is distributed evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake cool at least 30 minutes before spreading with icing. Chop your pecans... or buy the pre-chopped bag of pecans - no judgment.

Blend together softened butter and cream cheese until smooth. Then add powdered sugar about a cup at a time, blending well in between each addition. Blend in vanilla. Then use a rubber spatula to mix in the pecans.

Spread icing over cooled cake.

This got eaten FAST, so the pictures aren't great... but I can't wait to make it again!

Enjoy!!

White Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Can't believe I let July pass by without a blog update! Here's a fun dessert... I made these for a friend's birthday by putting a twist to this cake recipe by Sweetapolita.

You'll need...

For the cake:

5 large egg whites

3/4 cup milk, divided

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups cake flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. and 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

12 Tbsp. unsalted butter

For the icing:

8 oz. cream cheese

8 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 lb. of sugar

Let eggs sit on the counter for about 30 minutes to bring them to room temperature. Move butter to a plate and cut into cubes. Let this soften for about half an hour as well. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 cupcake pans by lining each tin with paper liners and spraying each with a shot of Baker's Joy.

In a measuring cup or small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the egg whites, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of the milk. Set this aside for later.

Sift together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) into a large mixing bowl, and stir gently with a whisk until just combined.

Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk to the flour.

Then toss in the butter.

Use an electric mixer on low speed for about 30 seconds until the mixture moistens up. Then crank the speed to medium-high until the batter is well combined - about 90 seconds.

Scrape the sides of the bowl, and add one-third of the egg mixture at a time, mixing well between each addition.

 Voila! Now use a scooper to evenly fill the cupcakes tins.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden on top. 

Blend together icing ingredients until creamy, and spread or pipe onto the cupcakes once they've cooled. This icing is SO sweet, so I didn't pipe the edges, but there's enough to smother them if that's your thing. :) Top with sprinkles or other fun treats! I used strawberry halves and mini Oreos.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Sheet Cake - Happy Birthday, Blog!

Today marks exactly ONE YEAR of food blogging! Has it really been that long?! I started this blog to share recipes with a few friends, and now 60 recipes and a few thousand page views later, here we are! I felt the need to celebrate (with food obviously), so I want to share this delicious sheet cake with you! But first, let's do a quick recap of some of my (and your) favorite recipes of the last year - just for fun. :)

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes - It's no surprise that this post has gotten more hits than any others on LTK! I even TRIED to give it some competition with other Nutella recipes (Nutella Rice Krispy Treats, Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies, Nutella French Toast) but you guys kept going back to these cupcakes.

Balsamic Chicken & Tortellini Salad - This was your second-favorite dish! The first time I made this was for a baby shower, and it was so fresh and flavorful that I kept making it over and over again. It's even better on Day 2 after it's had time to sit in the refrigerator and marinate. YUM!!

Blackberry Shortbread Bars - These yummy bars haven't gotten as many hits as they deserve, but this is one of my favorites recipes, so I couldn't resist giving these little guys a spotlight. They will change your life!!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins - I JUST made these a couple weeks ago, but I have a feeling they'll be popping up in my kitchen several more times this season. They're moist and delicious, and the sweet swirl of cream cheese frosting on top doesn't hurt.

Okay, enough of that - on to this gorgeous sheet cake! This recipe comes straight from Pioneer Woman's blog. Check it out HERE!

You'll need:


Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 heaping Tbsp. Cocoa
2 sticks butter
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Bakers Joy for spraying pan


Frosting
1 3/4 stick butter
4 heaping Tbsp cocoa
6 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Start by whisking together flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside.

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat.

While that's breaking down, whisk together buttermilk, beaten eggs, vanilla, and baking soda.

Once the butter is melted, sift in cocoa while whisking gradually.

Add boiling water.

Now pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients you set aside. Careful, it's hot!

Stir that a little so that the ingredients begin binding together.

Add in the buttermilk mixture.

Whisk until fully incorporated, and pour the batter into a pan sprayed with Baker's Joy (a mixture of flour and olive oil.) My sheet cake pan is 12x17 inches and about 1 inch deep. If you use anything smaller and deeper, you may have to adjust the baking time.

Use a rubber spatula to even out the batter.

Bake this at 350 degrees for just 20 minutes. While that's in the oven, it's time to make the frosting!

This is going to start similar to the cake. Melt butter and sift in cocoa powder, stirring together gradually.

Stir in milk and vanilla.

Remove from heat, and gently stir in the powdered sugar about a cup at a time.

This is what happens when you're not gentle... oops... too excited.

Keep whisking until smooth and creamy.

Now finely chop and add the pecans.

Stir those into the frosting.

Pour the icing over the cake.

Spread evenly with rubber spatula.

Yum...

Eat up, and share. This makes a lot of cake!

Sending you a whole year's worth of love from my kitchen! Hoping I can stay committed through Year 2. :)