Chocolate Carrot Cake

Today is cold and tomorrow is Valentine's Day which ended up being the perfect reason to bake a cake with our kids! We added a vegetable and cut down the sugar to try to make our chocolatey treat bit more kid friendly.

Cake:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups BCF Extra Virgin Canola Oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups shredded carrot
2 cups BCF Partially Sifted Flour

Beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add in the carrot and mix well. Add the flour and mix just until combined. Pour batter into two buttered and floured cake pans. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. While your cake cools, make the icing.

I caught Levi sharing the left over icing with Simone while I was taking a picture of the cake. It was so sweet (the scene, not the frosting) that I had to take a picture.

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 pkg cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp chili powder
splash of milk

Beat together your butter and cream cheese until the mixture is fluffy. Add in the vanilla, cocoa, cinnamon and chili powder. Add the icing sugar and beat well. If it's too thick add a splash or two of milk.

Cranberry Yogurt Cake

We are huddling indoors today with fragrant coffee, some favourite reads and this tasty treat. This cake is great to make in the fall when fresh cranberries are abundant. You can find the Slate River Dairy Yogurt (along with our flour) at the Thunder Bay Country Market Saturdays 8-1. You can also find a similar mug to ours at the market from the Urban Farmchick at Moss Cottage.

Topping:

1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries

Cake:

1 3/4 cups Partially Sifted Flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
zest of an orange
1/2 cup melted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup Slate River Diary yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, melt the brown sugar and butter together for the topping. Once melted, pour into the bottom of a greased cake pan and add the cranberries on top. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake. Create a well in the middle and add the melted butter, eggs and yogurt. Mix the batter just until moist - a few lumps is quite alright. 

Pour the batter on top of the cranberries and smooth the top. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Once done, allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes before flipping. P.S. The "topping" that is stuck to the bottom of the cake pan is pretty tasty on a spoon!

Butter Pecan Cake

Butter pecan is one of our all-time favourite cakes. It’s buttery, rich and perfect with a cup of tea.  

Cake

¼ cup butter
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
2 ½ cups BCF Partially Sifted Flour

In a frying pan, melt the 1/4 cup butter on medium-low heat. Add the pecans and toast just until fragrant (about 3 minutes). Set aside to cool. Beat the 1 cup of butter until fluffy. Add in the sugar and beat again. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add in the vanilla, baking powder and milk and beat once again. Finally, add the flour and mix just until combined. Fold in the pecans. Pour the batter into two 9 inch cake pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

Brown Sugar Buttercream

1 cup butter
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar

Beat the butter until fluffy. Add in the brown sugar and vanilla and beat again. Slowly add in the icing sugar and beat until you have a spreadable consistency. Frost the cake once is has cooled

Ginger Pear Cake

Originally from the Foodland Ontario website (http://www.ontario.ca/foodland/recipes/buttermilk-pear-ginger-cake), the warm molasses and spicy ginger flavours of this cake make it a great choice for a brisk (okay, just darn freezing) day. 

2 ¼ cups Partially Sifted Flour
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
¾ cup fancy molasses
1 cup buttermilk
3 pears, peeled, cored and chopped
icing sugar

Whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter until it’s fluffy; add in sugar, egg and molasses beating between each addition. Add dry ingredients into butter mixture alternatively with the buttermilk. Beat just until combined. Fold in pears. Pour the batter into a greased Bundt pan and bake for 55 minutes at 350°F. Let cool and dust with icing sugar. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

There is something about lemon that tastes like summer and given our current deep freeze is quite refreshing. Adding poppy seeds to this cake gives it a nice crunch, not to mention a classic combination. I think I’ll still have my cake with some hot tea – lemon cake or not, it is still winter.

½ cup oil
¾ cup sugar
½ cup milk
2 eggs
zest of 3 lemons
1 ¼ cups Partially Sifted Flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat together the oil, sugar, milk, eggs and zest. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt just until mixed. Fold the lemon juice and poppy seeds into the batter. Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Once cooled, I made a simple glaze of lemon juice and icing sugar for the top though it’s very good without it.