Attack of The Baking Bug (Part 2)

One fine day, I opened the door to the fridge and there were carrots, carrots, CARROTS everywhere! It was as if Bugs Bunny had been put in charge of the groceries. I couldn't figure out what had happened at first. But then I started raking my mind for all the things I could do with a bunch of carrots. And I made the first thing that came to my mind...

Carrot Cake!

I love food, but there's something about carrot cakes which makes my drift off to a Winter Wonderland, with my sitting in a glass covered veranda, watching the snow drift down from the sky in its beautiful white perfection while drinking cinnamon-spiked coffee and munching on an ooey-gooey carrot cake. Sigh

*drools*

Check out the recipe. The only things I changed about it were;

1. I used AP Flour and added a teaspoon of baking powder.
2. I didn't have walnuts so I threw in some raisins instead.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

For the icing:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 inch round cake pans.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon and sugar. Add the oil and eggs, mix until blended, then stir in the carrots and nuts. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven. A toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean. Cool cakes on wire racks before removing from pans.
• To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese; add the sugar and cream well. Stir in the nuts and vanilla. Use to fill and frost the cooled cake layers.

Chocolate Decadence

I've been blogging for quite a while now. But never on a regular basis. I blog consistently for a month or so and then for 6 months I totally forget about it! But for the past few months I've been thinking about this, a food (slash) perception blog. I'm always being asked by friends about where they should go for dinner or where is the best place to take their families for a quiet meal or what's the best item to order at a specific restaurant. I either have great taste or very common taste, either way my love for food and my humanitarian nature demands that I let people know where to go if they want a party in their mouth.

So on a recent stop-in at Karachi for a 24-hour stay before my flight to Dammam, I was stuffed with enough sugar to power a generator (that is IF generators ran on sugar!). There was so much chocolate that at a point I thought I would blow up and you'd find tiny nougats of chocolate instead of chunks of meat!

But the sad part about the mini trip to Karachi was that as soon as I reached at my Uncle's place from the airport and turned on the TV, someone somewhere had been shot at and Karachiites had been informed of a strike. So much for my excitement about the City of Lights!

But me being the brave and ever-resilient person that I am decided to go out the next day and me and Aunt and her tiny-tots ended up at the ever-famous Dolmen Mall - food court, to be exact!

And here's what I ate:

1. Chicken Stromboli from Lazzaro
2. Chocolate Decadence from Del Frio

The first one from the right on the second shelf - YUMM! <3

The stromboli was great, and I'm sure that was partially because it was fresh and I was as hungry as a whale on a plankton diet! But the cherry-on-the-cake was the slice of Del Frio's Chocolate Decadence. I mean, it was absolutely, doubtlessly the most wonderful slice of chocolate decadence I've had in my entire life. It was everything you'd expect a chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake and Italian mousse bundled together to taste like.

The trip to Karachi would've been a bust considering I didn't get to see what all the fuss is about when people talk about Port Grand and I didn't get to meet all the lovely people I had planned to meet but it was saved by Del Frio's Chocolate Decadence. I just hope they can keep the quality standard maintained!

In case someone needs a recipe, here's one and here's another

Happy eating!