So here is what was on the menu for my recent ladies luncheon of which most was compliments of my girl MS (Martha Stewart)
Starters : Hummus Platter with Whole Wheat Pita, Cucumbers, and Tomato Basil Feta
Main Course : Turkey Bolognese (courtesy of MS)
Mixed Greens with Apples, Walnuts, and Fresh Parmesan with Vinaigrette dressing
French Bread
Dessert : Carrot Cake (courtesy of MS)
Ginger Cookies (courtesy of MS)
Selection of teas
For all the deserts I was able to make good use of my new Kitchen Aide Mixer which I have appropriately nick named Ruby (for the most obvious reason that she is red). The mixer especially came in handy when it was time to do the cream cheese icing since it required 5 minutes of mixing. However, I do miss creaming and beating my batters by hand. There was something so therapeutic in the ritual of creaming the butter and sugar. In some weird way it made me feel connected to how people probably baked before the advent of all our fancy kitchen gadgets.
Well here is the MS recipe for carrot cake I used. I actually made it a two layer square cake since I am not a big fan of three layer cake (usually its too much icing for my taste). The cream cheese frosting recipe I used was from Domino magazine's recipe for Pumpkin Bliss Cupcakes (which is now one of my baking staples and is completely YUMMY).
Carrot Cake (recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart website)
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
- 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 3/4 cups)
- 2 cups pecans (1 cup finely chopped for batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for decorating sides of cake) - I used walnuts instead, call me traditional with my carrot cake.
Directions
- Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
- Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans. (Note that batter will be bright orange after incorporation of carrots and it will seem as though there are too many carrots in batter. Don't worry. The cake bakes up deliciously with just the right proportion of carrots)
- Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.
- Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day, covered) before serving.
Cream cheese frosting
4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 T. vanilla
5 c. confectioner's sugar (Yes its a lot of confectioner's sugar but it is needed)
Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add vanilla and beat. Add sugar one cup at a time and continue to beat an additional 5 minutes.
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