When my daughter, Genevieve, was in kindergarten, her favorite dessert was Carrot Cake. She started off young liking her vegetables when I would go to McDonalds, buy a Happy Meal toy and fill the bag with McBroccoli and McCarrotsticks when she was two years old…because we all know that the food that comes with a cool toy has got to be good, right? Even before that, I made her baby food and veggies were always a staple of her diet.So when her birthday came around that year, I made a huge carrot cake for the class. The kids were gobbling it up when one little girl asked what kind of cake it was. “Carrot Cake,” I said. “Why do you call it that?” she asked. “Because there are carrots in it,” I answered honestly, forgetting that there are some children for whom “carrot” is a dirty word.
She immediately tossed the contents of her plate in the trash and rinsed her mouth out with a sugary drink she had in her lunch box.
You’re just not going to win some people over to the veggie side even if you disguise the vegetables as a sweet treat.
This delicious veggie is extremely high in Vitamin A (93 percent of your recommended daily allowance) and Beta Carotene (77 percent of what you need each day). It’s also a good source of Vitamin C.
An interesting fact: the baby carrots you can buy at the grocery are neither young tender carrots nor are they a smaller breed. In fact, they are regular carrots that have been peeled and cut into uniform cylinders.
Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways. Of course, the easiest way to eat them is raw. Carrots are perfectly digestible straight from the ground (rinsed off, of course). Alternatively, these orange, vitamin-filled taproots can be chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups and stews.
And, of course, they can be made into a deliciously sweet cake.
Carrot Cake
For Cake
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup raisins
For Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 by13 inch pan.
- In a large bowl, mix the cake ingredients: Beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in raisins.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Frost the cooled cake.
