Goopy

The only thing I've been cultivating is a round stomach. The only vision I have is of the tip of my red toenails peeking out from said stomach. But he still loves me. Still gropes me in public and private. Still looks at me all goopy and tells me how happy he is that I am in his life and how he wishes that we would have met 20 years ago. I tell him that I wish we would have met at the age of 4. I would of happily ridden off in the sunset on the back of his tricycle.

Today's recipe - Carrot Cake With Maple Cream Cheese Icing courtesy of Bon Appetit with a few changes from moi.

Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups canola oil

4 large eggs

3 cups grated peeled carrots

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger

Icing

10 ounces cream cheese (such as Philadelphia), room temperature

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

12 walnut halves (for garnish)


For cake:


Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and ginger. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.

For icing:

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat at low speed until well blended. Beat in maple syrup. Chill until just firm enough to spread, 30 minutes.
Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 3/4 cup icing. Top with second layer. Spread remaining icing over entire cake. Arrange walnut halves around top edge. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.)

I added 4 teaspoon's of cinnamon
omitted the fresh ginger and added 1 tsp of ground ginger as well as
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp ground cloves

I used pecans instead of walnuts however I'm sure that walnuts would have been a delicious addition.

Split the cake mixture between 3 - 8inch round tins to make a triple layer cake and doubled the icing recipe. (There will be a lot left over but more is better than less when it comes to homemade frosting.)