Raining Cats and Dogs Carrot Cake

First Irene and now Lee and Katia – when is hurricane season over?  I’m certainly over it.

But enough of the whining.  As promised, here is the carrot cake recipe.

I'll probably get a lotta flack for this, but I have to admit I'm not a fan of carrot cake.  Ginger, however, is another story. Everything tastes better with ginger. When I saw the combination of pineapple and crystallized ginger, I knew I had found a winner of a carrot cake recipe.  To tie in the flavors, I also added a teaspoon of ground ginger to the cream cheese frosting.  And unless my friends were all being very enthusiastic liars, the recipe was a hit.

Carrot Cake (Bobby Flay's recipe from Food Network website)

¼ c butter

1 c crushed pineapple, drained

3 eggs

½ c canola oil

2 t vanilla

1 lb carrots, peeled and finely grated

2 t freshly grated ginger

2 c flour

1 ½ c sugar

½ c brown sugar, lightly packed

2 t baking soda

½ t ground ginger

1 ½ t ground cinnamon

½ t freshly grated nutmeg

1 t salt

1/3 c crystallized ginger, finely diced

¾ c toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans.

In a food processor, finely chop pineapple.  Melt butter.

In a large bowl, beat eggs for about 10 seconds.  Add oil, melted butter, vanilla, carrots, chopped pineapple and fresh ginger. Mix until combined.

In another bowl, combine flour, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in crystallized ginger and pecans.

 

Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake 40 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs.

Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

I decorated the cake with dog-shaped carrot cake shortbread cookies (see previous post) and fondant carrots.  To add a little more color, I gave the dogs orange collars and green leashes.