Cardamom Spiced Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I was asked to bake a carrot cake for Easter and came across one with cardamom in it that I just had to try. I tweaked it around a bit and it ended up coming out great! Everyone liked it. And if you like carrot cake or cardamom I think you will too :)

Not sure what cardamom is? Check it out here. It's truly a very unique flavor. 


On a side note I don't use any vegetable oil in my recipes. It's overly processed, bleached, refined, has an unhealthy Omega :6 to  Omega :3 ratio, and has no nutrients. Basically it's not a Real Food.  You can learn more about vegetable oil here  and more about Real Food from two bloggers that I love: Cheeseslave and Food Renegade.  Or from the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Onto the recipe!

350 degrees  for 30-45 min till done. 375 degrees for high altitude 25-35 min till done.

1/2 c. Butter, softened
1/2 c. Coconut Oil, room temp
1 1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown sugar.
2 t. vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3 c. grated carrots
1 c. white flour ( 1 1/2 for high altitude)
1 1/2 c. wheat flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda ( 1 1/4 t. for high altitude)
1/2 t. sea salt
1 t. ground cardamom
1/2 t. cinnamon
1c. milk
3/4 cup walnuts chopped
1 c. raisins

Preheat the oven.

Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.

A good rule of thumb for baking is to measure everything out before you start mixing. That way you don't get half way through and realize your out of something or loose your place when measuring.

You'll want to rehydrate your raisins to make them nice and juicy plump. To do this simply pour boiling water over them and let them sit in it for about 15 mins. Then drain them and pat them dry.

                                                                          Before

                                                                          After

 Cream together the butter, oil and sugar till fluffy. Then mix in the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each one.

In a separate bowl sift together the flours, spices, baking soda and salt.

Add the flour mixture to your butter mixture alternately with your milk. Be careful not to over mix.
Fold in the raisins, pour your batter into your cake pans, and throw them in the oven! ( okay NOT literally! )

While those are baking you can mix your cream cheese icing.

8oz. cream cheese, softened ( this is really important or you'll have lumpy icing...yuck)
1/2 c. butter, softened.  ( see above :P )
6-8 cups confectioners sugar ( depends on how thick you want your frosting)
1/2 t. lemon juice or extract ( I didn't really measure this. Just add enough till you get a nice lemon flavor. The lemon extract will be much stronger than the lemon juice tho so be careful! )

Cream together cream cheese and butter. Add lemon flavoring. Add sugar till thick.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Haha get it? I'm horrible I know.

Your cakes will be done when a tooth pick poked inside one comes out clean. Let 'em cool. Then level them and put them together. Ice and press the chopped walnuts onto the side. Decorate however you choose!

That's it! Let me know how yours comes out.
Happy Caking,
Suzy

Royal Icing Tiara ( for the princess in your life! )

Hello, and welcome!
 I asked my 4 year old niece what kind of birthday cake she wanted and she said "princess!". Am I surprised?
Today I'll be sharing how to make a tiara (like the one below) out of royal icing, fit for any princess cake.

Here's what you'll need.
 Piping bag.
 Decorating tips ( i used a 16. Star and a 2.Round)
Wax Paper
Tape
Round container big enough to pipe your pattern onto.( I used an oatmeal container)
Paint Brushes
Silver Dust ( optional but won't be shiny and silver without it )
Food coloring in the color of your choice.
Royal Icing.
A pattern of a Tiara. ( I hand drew mine but here's a pattern i based mine off of)

Okay tape your pattern onto your container or copy it onto the back of the wax paper. Then tape wax paper over your pattern. This is what you'll pipe onto. Begin to pipe your pattern. Try to keep it as smooth as possible. I used the star tip for the bigger lines and the small round one for the small lines.

Here's my tiara after the first coat. Or was it the second? Anyways you'll want to do several layers, letting the royal icing dry in between. I only did two layers and mine broke :( So maybe three would be better. After your layers are done let it dry at least overnight.
 Okay the fun part. Untape your wax paper and slowly peel it off, taking the tiara with you. Mine broke when I did this.

But we can fix it! ( whew!) Take some royal icing and glue it back together. I also went over the break on the BACK of the tiara to make it stronger and didn't have any problems after that. Now it's time to paint it! take your silver dust and mix it with vodka, lemon juice, clear vanilla, or oil. I used lemon juice not having vodka or clear vanilla because it would dry better than the oil.
You only need a little liquid! Start with a few drops then add the silver dust till its nice and shiny and not too runny. Make more as you need it.

For any colored part of the tiara simply mix food coloring with a little water. Paint the tiara and let it dry. That's it! A little time consuming but well worth the effort. Now you have a beautiful crown ready to be put on any cake. And make little girls everywhere happy.

Thanks for reading. Let me know how YOUR tiara comes out. Happy Caking, Suzy