All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
So I jinx’d myself.
I have been all “oh pregnancy is no problem! I feel great. I’m a bit more tired, but it’s same old same old!” Because it really has been great. I’m one of those (annoying) people who just feels great when pregnant. I get tired but do not experience any significant pains (I don’t count my on again, off again hip pain since that is not related to being pregnant) or sickness or whatever.
…
When in doubt, make mug cake.
My original plans to visit my mom and grandma on Saturday were thrown by the way side when I spent 1.30am-4am puking/trying not to puke/trying to puke on Friday. Good times, I tell ya. Good times. Maybe stomach bug, maybe food poisoning. Maybe I don’t care what was trying to kill me from the inside out, but I’d like to not experience that again for a long time.
I didn’t mean to but I kept waking up Autumn in the process. (sorry mommy is too loud throwing up princess… eye roll) So thankfully, she slept in to a whopping 6.45 am. We trudged downstairs, I made her pancakes, and then positioned myself on the sofa for the next 2 1/2 hours dozing while she watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It was perfect for both of us.
I rallied in the afternoon taking her to the dollar store to get cheap Easter decorations like eggs, baskets, and window clings. Window clings are so cheesy but are the best for toddlers. And somehow it wasn’t exactly a dollar store as I spent $4 on a big bouncy ball. Totally worth it, but if Dollar is in your name, everything should be a $1. Shoot, I’ll accept $2 even. But it should be a rule.
Anyway, I am happy Easter is around the corner is around the corner. It gives me a fantastic excuse to dress Autumn in things covered in rabbits. Oh man, I have so much rabbit stuff. I love it.
Plus, all the food for Easter is great too.
While it’s not just for Easter, I find that carrot cake is such a fun Easter-y dessert. It’s the carrot > bunny connection. And since we have a rabbit I am all for carrot cake.
Which is exactly why I gravitated to Cathleen’s Carrot Cake Mug Cake from her blog A Taste of Madness for this special edition of Secret Recipe Club.
Since there is an extra Monday in the month we celebrate the occasion with a special theme post. In this case, we had to search our fellow blogger’s blog for either Easter or St. Patrick’s Day posts.
When I spotted this cake I knew I’d have to give it a try as it’s just the kind of recipe I love, simple, sweet, and perfectly portioned. Love it!!
Remember, when your day or weekend plans go awry, make mug cake. It will solve all your problems.
Makes 1 Serving
Ingredients
For the Mug cake
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
Directions:
Insprired from A Taste of Madness
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Check out all the other fun St Patrick’s Day and Easter themed posts!
There are a lot of people who celebrate their birthday’s in August, including my family and the people I work with. I try to bring in a cake or cupcakes for the people I immediately work with to help celebrate their birthdays. But this time, 8 in one month was a lot to take on! So I figured that I could bring in 1 big one for the office to enjoy with the all the birthday people. I love to bake but I am not bakery! Especially with 4 birthdays in a row!
I made a massive carrot cake for the 8 people who have August birthdays. Requested by Kellie (August 8th birthday)
Serves 24 (but you can get 36 decent pieces out of it)
2 pound of carrots
3 cups of all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup raisins
2 cups walnuts, finely chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Line and grease 2 11”x8” baking pans.
Peel and grate carrots (fine shred with a food processor is okay but a grater has the best results)
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
In a very large bowl, beat the eggs until blended. Add the vanilla, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil and beat until well incorporated.
In three batches, add the dry ingredients, mix well.
Fold in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts until they are mixed evenly throughout.
Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, test for doneness.
Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let it cool completely on a rack prior to icing.
24 oz (3 8oz packages) cream cheese, softened to room temperature, cut into small pieces
¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla extract to the mixture. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar. Beat until fully incorporated and smooth.
This recipe can be reduced in half.
The last time I made this recipe I left out the raisins and walnuts (afraidof nut allergies in the office) and it was a lot drier. This cake was very moist but not as easy to work with, especially when icing it!
It was nice that we were able to gather the majority of the office to get together for some cake and signing instead of our teams. We figure that we will now have a birthday cake for the month and it will be done during the staff meetings. hmmm what will I make for September?
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