Mother’s Day arrived and I got inspired to Be the Mother, which included baking a salmon, steaming asparagus and, lucky everyone, baking a carrot cake. I could not for the life of me find a recipe in my recipe box. (Did I ever have one?) So I googled Carrot Cake and found a recipe that looked interesting. As I am wont to do, as I began assembling I began tweaking the recipe and am very glad I did! I now have what it undoubtedly the best carrot cake recipe I’ve ever found and I am inspired to pass it along straightaway to you. Maybe you need to bake a cake! So here goes.

The Best Carrot Cake in the World

*Set the oven at 350 F.

*Coat the inside of a bundt pan with a mixture of soft butter and a bit of olive oil, and then sprinkle some white flour inside and shake the pan around so the flour is more or less distributed. Don’t worry. It will be fine.

*Beat four eggs in a big bowl.

*Add two teaspoons of vanilla.

*Add two cups of sugar and beat that in.

This is how it will look.

Now. This is going to sound outrageous, but just pretend you are Julia Child and go with the flow.

Melt a lot of unsweetened butter in a heavy skillet very very slowly. Do not let it get in the least bit brown, OK? You are going to want to end up with 1 1/4 cups of melted butter. (I know. I know. But I have to tell you–otherwise how will you follow the recipe?) Like this:

Add the melted butter to the egg mixture. Set aside.

Now, get out a bunch of organic carrots, peel them lightly, cut off the ends and voila.

Chop up the carrots into maybe two inch pieces, and put in Cuisinart. If you don’t have one, borrow one or invest in one. Otherwise this is going to be way too much work and we don’t want that, and besides, you won’t have this consistency.

And you are going to need it, because this recipe requires three cups of grated carrots! Yes, it does. Yummy.

Add to the egg mixture 1 3/4 cups of unbleached white flour and then 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour. Then add a pinch of salt, two teaspoons of baking powder, two teaspoons of baking soda, two teaspoons of cinnamon and then grate at least one teaspoon of nutmeg into the batter. After these are mixed up, hand stir in the three cups of carrots. Just stir a reasonable amount of time.

When this is complete, I opted to throw in a small handful of golden raisins and a sprinkling of currants. Then you will have this:

Then, my dears, fold in a cup of chopped nuts. I’d suggest walnuts or pecans. Now, isn’t this final batter amazing??

Pour the batter into the bundt pan. Pop in the oven for 50 minutes and then check to see if it’s done with a toothpick or small fork. I’ve made it twice now and both times I needed an hour.

Remove the cake from the oven.

Critical point. You must be patient. This cake should cool at least one hour before you try to remove from the pan. I slid a knife around the edges probably after half an hour and ever so gently lifted it underneath, but did not attempt to remove. After an hour I flipped the pan and the cake effortlessly slipped onto my plate. Then I waited another hour before I frosted with cream cheese frosting, which is ridiculously easy.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 C. butter, softened
8 oz. creamcheese, softened
1 teaspoon of vanilla (only use the real stuff)
4 cups of confectioner’s sugar

Done.

This cake is so unbelieveably delicious I can’t wait until you try it and then let me know. This will become one of your best recipes and your family and friends will love you for making it. Enjoy, dearest readers.

Love and kitchen blessings,
Kathryn xoxox

Posted on May 15th, 2010 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Play | 20 Comments »

Cornus florida

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” ~Chinese proverb

It’s April and flowering trees abound at this time of year in California, and most likely where you live, too. They emerge in concert harmony, showcasing one after another. At this particular moment it is the dogwood that is in full display, and last year I highlighted their abundance and beauty here.

However while it may be dogwood that is taking the larger stage, there are many more flowering trees about and I set out to find them. What I least expected to find was a western redbud, as they have largely come and gone, but redbud I did find, and I was delighted! My guess is this late bloomer will be the last of the season. Lucky us for its last minute arrival! For whatever reasons, this tree (and variations) is associated with Judas’s supposed hanging himself and is known in parts of the world as the “Judas Tree.” It has a very interesting property in that its blossoms emerge directly from its branches, contributing to a rather unlikely look as it unfolds. I love their little heart-shaped leaves. It’s rather endearing that carpenter bees cut nickel-size circles from the redbud leaves to use in their nests. (I adore carpenter bees. I think of them as the grand teddy bears of the bee family, kind of lumbering and harmless to humans.)

Cercis occidentalis

Scouting about I find myself drawn to a small tree of which I’d been previously aware, but had not closely examined before. It is a Japanese snowball tree.

Snowball Viburnum
This tree has always puzzled me as my interpretation of it is that it is some sort of hydrangea that has gone rogue and far exceeded its boundaries and expected form! You will see what I mean, here:

See? Most perplexing. But the snowball tree it is and lives happily in this dappled corner, protected by a wall of bamboo. Very lovely setting.

The most dramatic flowering trees I found were these photinia twins living entwined in a small charming county park. They must have been carefully groomed in their early years and I’m imagining are very very old to have reached this height.

Closer to home is a reliable white lilac in full blossom. I love that people walking by always stop to partake of its wonderfully sweet fragrance!

And now a mystery tree, which, ironically, inspired me to want to write this very post.

I must confess that at point of inspiration the plumes on this tree were slightly more lavender and my delay in acting on my muse has placed it slightly past its most beauteous moment. However, it is still quite lovely. It does not have leaves, per se, but rather a lacey kind of needle. Its gnarled trunk suggests its presence in the neighborhood for quite some time. Any ideas?? All guesses appreciated!

Love and springtime blessings!
Kathryn xoox

Footnote: If you want an answer, ask a scientist! Cousin Julie has ID’d the above plant as a tamarix. Poor thing is invasive in some parts, and has the ability to suck up groundwater from the desert floor. Good for the tree. Not so good for the desert.

What is interesting to me about the above post is that three of the trees I’ve chosen apparently have Biblical references. The dogwood, as you may know, has associations with the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’s head before his crucification. As noted above, the redbud is associated with Judas’s hanging. And I have just found these surprising notes in verifying that Julie’s ID was correct:

In spite of Tamarisks drawbacks, its an important desert tree, providing windbreaks and welcome shade and cover for many animals. It is the source of the Manna of the Bible, which is produced by a small sap sucking insect that turns the toxic sap into a sweet honey like substance that drops to the ground. It is still gathered in the Middle East and sold in the markets.

A fascinating unfolding!

Posted on April 25th, 2010 by Kathryn
Filed under: Plants | 18 Comments »