weekend!

I'm off to Lake Bomoseen for some lakehouse fun ... And I'm hoping Vermont will give me lovely weather like this instead of RAIN. Fingers crossed.

What are you up to this weekend?

carrot cake with cream cheese icing

I remember the first time I had carrot cake. It was at a wedding — my friend's older sister's beautiful August wedding about four years ago. The reception was great. The bride was only 21, so there were a bunch of young guests dancing to funky music on a side stage, and the restaurant we were in was decorated like a nighttime forest. There were trees strung with twinkling white lights. There were coy ponds with huge, colorful swimmers in them, and white bridges crossing over the water. There were flowers blossoming from dozens of vases, and the floors were strewn with fall leaves.

Tucked behind a tree was the table with the cake ... a three- or four-layer thing iced in creamy white frosting. It looked so elegant. So imagine my surprise when they cut into it and it had this chunky orange thing going on inside. The carrot cake was crumbly and dry, with hunks of nuts and raisins tucked in. Really not my thing. With a buildup like that, my first taste of carrot cake, at 17, was pretty disappointing. (Side note: Can you believe I was 17 and hadn't eaten carrot cake?! Who am I?)

Anyway, I think I only had carrot cake once since then. It wasn't too spectacular. But they say your taste buds are always changing, and that must be true because I suddenly decided, in the last few weeks, that the idea of a carrot cake was absolutely amazing. I knew it would be delicious if it were spongy and smooth, without any nuts or — ugh — raisins. So my friend T. Buck sent over her mom's recipe, with assurance that it was delicious and "moist" — and that's saying something, because T. Buck hates using that word. Me too, actually.

But moist is totally accurate for this cake. It's thick, but its spongy texture makes it taste very light. The cake itself isn't too sweet (you could eat it without icing for a snack), but when you smear on a thick layer of cream cheese icing, it becomes a very satisfying, smooth dessert. And it kind of feels healthy, you know, with all those veggies in there.

Carrot Cake

Adapted from T. Buck's recipe

For the cake:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 eggs

1 cup oil

4 cups grated carrots (I used about 3 1/3, as I ran out. It works fine.)

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until they're frothy. Slowly add in the oil. Gradually add in the flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Fold in the carrots.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (That's for a sheet cake, like I made. For two pans, lower the baking time slightly.)

For the icing:

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 8-oz. package of cream cheese (low fat works fine)

powdered sugar

touch of milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

I kind of improvised here. Cream the butter and cream cheese together, and add in the vanilla. Gradually add in 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time, until you've reached your desired texture and sweetness. Use a splash of milk if you need to. Smooth icing over the cooled cake and ... eat.

grapefruit cake

I had a completely different story in mind to go along with this cake.  

It was about my fourth of July, and a barbecue in the rain, and sneaking into someone's lakeview backyard to catch the fireworks from the best possible standpoint.  It was about how, sometimes, fun sneaks up on you in unexpected, unplanned for, sloppy ways.

However, things don't feel quite so festive a week later.  Especially when that week has included torrential downpours that, while my car was parked ever so innocently at work, gathered in a deep flood in our crappy, half-gravel parking lot by the train tracks and seeped into my car.  Yes, it flooded.  No, it didn't happen to anyone else.  Yes, this is the car I bought, brand new, just three months ago.

So it doesn't feel quite right to overlook this week's disaster and paint you a pretty picture about fireworks and cake.  But it does feel alright to tell you how you will lose yourself in this cake when you're alone in your kitchen, peacefully making use of every aspect of the grapefruit.  You'll zest the grapefruit peel, then segment out the colorful fruit that's so juicy it's dripping.  And then you'll squeeze the remaining pulp and membrane for the juices that will add sweet, tangy flavor to the cake.  This is a good cake to get lost in and forget about your flooded car/ bad day at work/ brand new shirt that shrunk in the dryer/ [insert your woes here].

I did make this for that fourth of July barbecue, and it was actually a really big hit.  Grapefruit in a cake is such a novel idea to me, and the flavor was very distinct: fresh and fruity with a tart little kick.  

I used half the amount of cream cheese than was recommended, because, well, two packages of cream cheese just seems a little obscene for icing.  One worked really well.  If I were you, I would pick your favorite white cake recipe and incorporate the grapefruit juice into that, as I found the cake rather thick and dense.  It works, especially with the slices of pink grapefruit sitting atop a thick layer of icing, but I'd much prefer a fluffier, moister cake.  And maybe instead of lining the bottom with grapefruit slices... try slicing them smaller and mixing them right into the batter.  Mmm.  Try it your own way, will you, and let me know what happens?

Grapefruit Cake

adapted from Lottie + Doof, via Saveur

3 pink grapefruits

2/3 cup butter, softened

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 3/4 cup sugar, plus a little more

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 pound (1 package) cream cheese, softened

2 1/2 - 3 cups confectioner's sugar

Begin by zesting one of the grapefruit to get 2 teaspoons of zest.  Work a little sugar into the zest to bring out the flavor, then set the zest aside.  Peel and segment the grapefruit into slices, making sure to avoid all of the bitter pith and the membrane.  Set the segments aside.  Squeeze juice from the remaining pulp, reserving 1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13'' baking dish with butter, and sprinkle lightly with flour.

In a bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, until fluffy.  Add the 1/2 of grapefruit juice, milk, and vanilla, and stir.  Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Line the bottom of the baking dish with half of the reserved grapefruit, then pour in the batter and smooth it down.  Bake about 35-40 minutes, and let it cool.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.  Add the reserved zest and remaining grapefruit juice and beat again.  Add confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you've reached the desired consistency.  Smooth the icing over the cake, topping with the remaining segments of grapefruit.  Chill before serving.