carrots are veggies and veggies are good for you.. carrot cake is better though

To celebrate the Spring and Easter I wanted to make Carrot Cake. And my trusty ol' Pioneer Woman, Ree had a recipe that seemed easy. She also used the word "faint" in the description and I'm all about fainting as a result of good food.
My intent was to make it for the family I was spending Easter afternoon with (my Bestie's family), but that didn't happen. SO I had this HUGE sack of carrots and a handful of packages of cream cheese that I still needed to use on Monday. I didn't have a choice in the matter- this cake was going to be made.

Ree was right. It apparently IS material for fainting. It got such good reviews I had to make it twice. You heard me- TWICE. The employees of both Schaefer & Bierlein and Citizens Insurance got a taste of it and I don't know what it is about this recipe, but I haven't received this much positive feedback on a cake before. It was a simple cake with simple ingredients...

I promise I took some good pictures. But I lost them in the download process :( so, here are the ones I DO have...

This is the cake right before I popped in the oven... it holds 2 cups of carrots- no raisins, no pineapple, no nuts.. CARROTS (also, see the perimeter of the pyrex dish? I buttered the HECK out of this and floured it pretty good too. DO THIS if you want to serve it on a platter, not out of the pyrex.. learned that after the first go-round).




K, this is the cup of pecans I chopped for the frosting. I'm not usually a pecan person, but DO THIS. Pecans in the frosting = amazing.



This is the frosting sitting and waiting to be used on the cooling cake. I made the frosting while the cake was baking (33 minutes at 350 degrees). It has ONE POUND of powdered sugar. ONE POUND. lots of butter and lots of cream cheese. and those glorious pecans.... You could seriously eat this frosting with a spoon in front of the t.v. and you would be happy.



SO, here is what you miss... I took the cake out and let it cool completely. Then I turned it over onto a platter and frosted all sides of it. It's much better this way then in the Pyrex dish. And looks prettier, in my opinion.

Then, cut into small pieces so you don't feel so guilty when you have three or four... five or six pieces. :) And maybe share with your co-workers or your ex. This cake is so good you want to share. It causes niceties you didn't think you were capable of.



and then this is what you have left at the end... Everyone loved.

Get ready! (part I)

This is gonna be a long one! And will have to be in two parts... Part 2 will have to come tomorrow because I just realized I didn't download all the pictures.. dang!

SO, FIRST- had a very last minute cake to make at the end of last week. My dear friend at work decided to leave and follow a new adventure with another company. My dear Miss Marsha bid us farewell and I made her a BIG square cake. I wanted to practice covering a square cake again so this was a good opportunity. It was a simple affair- (5) 8" square layers. 4 layers were marble cake and 1 layer was strawberry, just for fun. There was either strawberry ganache or amaretto ganache all covered in the usual Swiss Buttercream and then chocolate fondant over the top.
Check it out:



Then... Then I had a very important date on Saturday with a new friend, Libby. She and I are hatching up an evil genius plan together and the first step was to get her stellar photography skills over to my kitchen to snap some of my attempts at greatness and me attempting to make them great. ;) Here is the cake I made and one of the cupcakes I made for the photo shoot :




You can check out one of the pictures she took of me on my facebook fan page, look for Sweet Sandy B and become my fan if you aren't already. I can't WAIT to see the rest of the pictures. giddy!
**Cake was 3 layers of Chocolate Creme de Menthe w/ a mint ganache and covered in Swiss Buttercream. The cupcake is Clementine Creamsicle w/ Swiss Buttercream.**

Then, Easter... It was a beautiful day- just gorgeous out. #1 and Mooch had a fab time hunting for eggs, and thankfully the kiddos don't like looking at the camera for pictures so I have a few to share of them hunting for those eggs left by that pesky Easter Bunny:




And, like a lot of American homes, we had ham for dinner.. lots and LOTS of ham. and lots of LEFTOVER ham... I found a yummy recipe for what to DO with all of that leftover ham and made some Scalloped Potato and ham gratins in my muffin tins. Seriously, they are delightful and nothing but BAD for you... butter, cream, cheese, ham, potatoes... sigh.. heaven in a muffin tin.




and then... I wanted to make carrot cake and try out this recipe for "the best pound cake ever". My idea was to do it on Saturday or Sunday, but that didn't happen (as things often DON'T go as planned lately). And then I started to feel under the weather and tired... so, they kept getting put off.

But then, a few twists and turns later, THIS was created:




And I'll tell you MORE about it tomorrow when I have the pictures lined up to tell you the story.. it's a good one! :) Happy Hump day! (ew, I HATE that saying. yuck and YUCK)