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Dessert

Nut-Free Classic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

    Carrot Cake
    Carrot Cake

    [pinterest]

    I can’t believe I haven’t already made carrot cake a million times, since I love to make Zucchini Bread, and of course, am always making Pumpkin Bread, but this is the fist time I’ve done a post about Carrot Cake. I like my carrot cake without raisins or nuts, so some will say that this is a stripped down version of carrot cake, but the flavor was great and it was moist too, so I’m sticking with this version.

    I took a shortcut with the carrots and used a bag of shredded carrots I bought at the grocery store. I did pop the shredded carrots into my Cuisinart Mini Prep to make them even smaller, but it was super easy to start with the carrots already shredded.

    To make the carrot with icing, I set a side two different reserves. One I added red and yellow food coloring to make orange and the other one, I added green. I put these into two sandwich bags and cut a little corner off. I squeezed the orange icing out back and forth to make a snaky carrot shape and then repeated for the green part.

    Nut-free Carrot Cake
     
    Prep time
    Cook time
    Total time
     
    No nuts. No raisins. This is a cakey carroty carrot cake.
    Author:
    Recipe type: Dessert
    Serves: 20
    Ingredients
    • 1½ cups vegetable oil
    • 2 cups granulated sugar
    • 4 eggs
    • 2 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie spice
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 2 tsp baking soda
    • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
    • 3 cups finely grated carrots
    • For the icing:
    • ½ cup butter, softened
    • (1) 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
    • ¼ tsp salt
    • 2 tsp vanilla
    • 2½ cups confectioners' sugar
    • Additional milk as necessary
    Instructions
    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9" x 13" pan with cooking spray (or two 9-inch round layer pans) .
    2. Beat the eggs into the oil and then beat in the sugar, salt, and spices. Mix the flour with the baking soda, and stir in. Add the carrots and mix until just blended. Pour into the prepared pan(s).
    3. Bake the cake(s) for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
    4. For the frosting:
    5. Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
    6. Add the salt and vanilla and beat in with the sugar.
    7. Add a teaspoon of milk if the frosting is too stiff to spread; add additional sugar if it's too thin.

     

      Categories
      Fish & Shellfish News

      McDonald’s is Back on my Radar Screen with Fish McBites

        Fish McBites for a limited time only

        I’ve been off McDonald’s for awhile, trying to erase the sins of the holiday season by following the plan put forth in Tim Ferris’ book, The 4-Hour Body. It’s all about rapid fat loss and it’s been working pretty well, so I’m not eager to mess with it, but the beauty of the program is that once each week, you are required, that’s right, required, to binge. One must do so carefully, but still.

        So this Saturday, I’m planning to head over to a Bay Area McDonald’s and try a new, limited-time product they launched this week called Fish McBites. I’m a sucker for restaurant history, so I thought it was cool when I learned that this year, McDonald’s celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich. That makes it a perfect time to launch a new fish product, but in 2013, we must be careful about sustainability and McDonald’s is on it with this one. Fish McBites contain wild-caught Alaska Pollock that is responsibly sourced from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified sustainable fisheries. That makes McDonald’s the first fast food chain in the U.S. to offer MSC certified sustainable fish on its menu all year long (the same MSC certified Pollock is in the File O’ Fish sandwich too).

        Fish McBites are only available until the end of March. They timed the launch to coincide with Lent, a period of time in the Christian calendar when people often decide to give up things, like red meat.

        And Fish McBite’s aren’t only available in grown-up portions. For the first time ever, the limited-time Fish McBites Happy Meal brings a fish entrée option to the iconic Happy Meal.

        Fish McBites Happy Meals with 1 percent low-fat white milk, 100 percent apple juice or fat-free chocolate milk, meet new nutrition criteria in the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

        This isn’t the first time I’ve gone out on a limb to promote McDonald’s. See my post from last year called, 10 Reasons I Take My Kids to McDonald’s (Seriously).

        For more information about Fish McBites, nutrition information, or Greater Bay Area McDonald’s commitment to the community and sustainability, visit https://twitter.com/McD_BayArea or http://bit.ly/McDonaldsBayArea.


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