Carrot Cake

Who said that carrots can't be fun?

I thought Carrot Cake was supposed to taste like carrots until we made it. It doesn't taste like carrots AT ALL. I made the cake last night with my sister, Kei, and I must say, we did pretty well. It was really good. It should really taste good because I hurt my middle finger while grating the carrots and burned my right arm while baking it. Kidding aside, it was really good.

The Carrot Cake that's worth the blood and the burn XD

How cute are the walnuts!

A better look at the cake

This was my very first Carrot Cake and I didn't know it could taste so good. Since I'm a big fan of cinnamon, I was able to distinguish the spice at my first bite. Cinnamon really gives any dish an extra kick. The carrots were too small to recognize but it somehow gave the cake a bit of texture. But despite the good taste, we did not have a very good frosting. It was a bit grainy. Maybe because we used caster sugar instead of confectioners' sugar. Confectioners sugar wasn't available so I just asked my sister to buy caster since it's even better than the granulated one. Caster sugar is the finer version of granulated sugar which is commonly used in sponge cakes to make it fluffier. I'm not a big fan of cream cheese but the mixture of butter and cream cheese was just so yummy. The cream cheese gave the frosting a bit of sourness but the sugar was able to balance the overall taste.

By the way, we got the recipe from the July 2009 issue of the Food Magazine. It really pays to collect the magazine's monthly issues.

CARROT CAKE

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups shredded/grated carrots (For this, I used only one large carrot. I think it made less than 3 cups.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease two 9-inch cake pans and line with parchment paper. (Instead of using 2 pans, we used only one then cut it into two to make two layers.)
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Blend in the vegetable oil.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, then mix in carrots and vanilla. Beat either by hand or with the use of electric mixer.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 bar (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 pack (454 grams) confectioners' sugar, sifted (We used only 2 cups of caster sugar so as not to make it too sweet.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecan nuts (optional) (Here, we used walnuts instead of pecan nuts.)

In the medium bowl of an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter.
Gradually add sugar and vanilla, mixing well until smooth and of spreading consistency.
Use to frost cooled cake, If desired, sprinkle pecans on the sides of the cake. Store any extra frosting in the refrigerator.

We stored the extra frosting in the ref because as Kei said, "Pwede pang palaman sa tinapay yan!"

Spiced Butter Poached Shrimp

The sound of sizzling shrimps is music to my ears. As the little creature turns from gray to pink, I start to drool. Yummy! I've tasted a lot of shrimp dishes but I had to try this recipe from the Evil Shenanigan's website (www.evilshenanigans.com). I had to modify the recipe though to suit my taste.

My Version of Spiced Butter Poached Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg. shrimps (peeled and deveined)
• half a stick of unsalted butter
• 1/8 cup chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. ground red pepper
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. hot sauce
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Rinse the shrimp and dry with towel then set aside. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium low heat with onions and garlic. Allow the butter to infuse for 5 minutes. Add the spices and hot sauce and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium. When the butter begins to simmer add the shrimp. Cook the shrimp for 3-4 min then flip and cook on the other side for 2-3 min. Remove the shrimp from the butter then strain the butter into a ramekin for dipping.

(Credits go to Evil Shenanigans -- www.evilshenanigans.com)

HOT. YUMMY. GOT TO HAVE MORE.

Taste of Life

"Live. Love. And Eat." -- Wolfgang Puck

People eat to live. That's a fact. But some people live to eat. I'm one of them. Before, I was just one of those people who eat to satisfy their hunger. But for someone who grew up in a family who loves food so much, you'll learn to describe food beyond the four taste buds.

Every dish has its own complexity and its own character. It's not just plain sweet, sour, salty or bitter. It's more than that.

LIVE TO LOVE. LOVE TO EAT.