Not Even a Crumb!

     As a young boy, I remember meal time at my house being very competitive.  My mother did all the cooking, and my father did all the eating.  He was a construction worker, and he seemed to eat a great deal.  My mother would put all the food into bowls, and the bowls would circulate around the table.  My mother, my father, my sister, and my brother and myself took whatever we wanted from the bowls but whatever we took, it had to be eaten.  My father made sure of that.  Of course, to get "seconds", you could take more, if everything on your plate was gone.  There was only one problem ... my father was a big man with a big appetite and a big mouth.  His plate was always cleaned first, and then he would eat everything left in all the bowls.  I tried to keep up with him, but to no avail.  Once all the main course was devoured, my father would start on the dessert, and on Sunday, the dessert was always chocolate cake.  He would eat all of it if he could, so I gulped down my food, ate seconds, and then dove into the cake as well.

     I married Sue at 18 and immediately took over the cooking.  Sue didn't like to cook.  I made at least one cake a week and after years of experimenting with different recipes, I had mastered the best carrot cake in the world recipe.  Here is the recipe if you don't believe me ...

Foxy Carrot Cake
adapted from the Net

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained (or 1/2 cup of applesauce)
1 pound finely grated carrots
1 cup toasted chopped pecans
1 cup golden raisins
1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by lightly coating with oil and lining with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl.  Set aside.

Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, vanilla, and pineapple together in a large bowl.   Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.   Stir in the carrots, pecans and raisins just until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake on the center rack for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

Cool cakes in their pans for at least 30 minutes before attempting to remove them.  Then, remove from the pans and peel off the parchment paper.  Continue to cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Ice the cake anyway you want, but I usually spread icing between the top and bottom layers, and then ice the whole cake.  Chill a bit to firm up the frosting before eating.

An interesting favorite Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

16 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar to taste

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add extracts and beat just until incorporated.  Beat in sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting has the flavor and consistency you want.  You may not need to add all of the sugar.

Three years ago, we started to winter in Bucerias Mexico.  They have a market in a little seaside town called La Cruz, a few miles north of Bucerias, every Sunday.  There is a young couple, Todd & Lolita, at that market who sell their version of the 'best carrot cake in the world'.  First we bought one piece each.  It was great!  The next week, we purchased a whole cake.  We shared it with our friends and everyone raved about it.  The next week, we bought another whole cake and devoured it in the privacy of our rooftop tree house late at night when no one was around.

One week, we asked Todd & Lolita for their recipe, but they wouldn't share it.  I think they use the same recipe as I use above, but Sue disagrees.  She thinks theirs is better.  Do they use butter like me?  Do they add  pineapple or applesauce to make it moist like me?  Is it the oil they use?  Maybe they use yogurt or sour cream instead of  buttermilk?  

I am not sure, but what I do know is that as long as we are here in Mexico and as long as Todd & Lolita are making this carrot cake, we will be buying and eating it, and NOT sharing any of it - Not Even a Crumb!