Fun making Carrot Cake

Today we put together this pretty little lady.  :) There are a million recipe's for Carrot Cake so if you have one that you love, hold on tight to it! I think this one tastes pretty good, but not SPECTACULAR.  Again, this is one of my "complaints" from going to school. I don't think we have made anything that I feel I would create in a bakery. That's pretty sad!  BUT, I am going to have to come up with my own recipe's and ingredients to make sure that I do give you something that really is, Linda's!

We created our Cream Cheese frosting which I was excited for. I love anything with Cream Cheese :) :) So I guess I am a little biased, because I feel, how can you go wrong? yuummy! Ok, so here you are:

Cream Cheese Icing

12 oz CREAM CHEESE

20 oz POWDERED SUGAR

VANILLA to taste

LEMON JUICE to taste

Mix that up in your mixer starting at low speed and gradually get it to a higher speed, making sure all the ingredients get incorporated. Use your spatula to scrape down the sides and to get underneath the paddle attachment.

Once you have your icing ready, take your cake out of the fridge and cut it in half. Place a layer of icing on the first half of the cake and then place the top back on. Ice the rest of your cake by placing a good amount of icing on the top, using your spatula to even it out.  Go all the way around the cake, as smooth as you can.  This cake has a lot of crumbs, so you can try to do a crumb layer, cool it in the fridge, and then come back and finish icing so you get a smooth finish. That's what I did! It's frustrating when you are diligently working and those crumbs jump right into your smoothness!  So here is a pic for ya!

Once you have that done, move on to my all time favorite thing.... piping and decorating!! haha.. yea, right. Okay, I must admit, today we created little carrots that we made out of marzipan. It was like playing with play dough. :) So here is the thing,  I don't really think I am creative, but if you show me how to do something, I will practice and get it right.  Does that count for anything? laughing.. I mean, I know it does, but I just wish I had a more extensive imagination!  So, we placed the classic rosettes on top. These serve as slice markers actually.  I did 8, but you can totally do more slices.  If you do 8, its basically the size of a slice you would get at a restaurant..which is, in my opinion, TOO MUCH! I put a little seashell piping on the bottom, but you can get creative with your favorite style.

I then shaped the carrots using the orange and green dyed marzipan. This part was fun!! I didn't think I was going to like it, but I sure did!  I placed a carrot on each of the rosette's and then did a little something of my own in the middle... I made a rosette and put a couple of green "leaves" in the middle as if there was a carrot growing from it! laughing.. HELLO!!! How about a little bit of orange BEFORE the green leaves so that it actually looks like there is a carrot growing out of it?? Yea, like I said.. creativity challenged. ;) ;)

I finished this a little too quickly and had too much time to kill. We had a lot of marzipan left over so I decided I would kill some of that time. Yup, I got "creative".  The chef walked by though and said she thought it was very cute! Woot Woot! Gooo  Linda!!  She was pleased.. so I was pleased!

Ta Da! There you have it! :) :) Listen, I try ok?!? We are just going to cut into it anyhow, right? It must be devoured right away, so chop chop!

Tomorrow we make lady fingers and will more than likely be doing a lot of piping exercises.  We make Tiramisu on Friday and will use our lady fingers for that.  So I may not have too much to show tomorrow, but I will give you my insight anyways!

Have yourself a beautiful night and I will see you back here very soon! I am off to get a little work out in. Lord knows all this cake is going to the thighs, ok, and stomach, arms.. need I go on? ;)

XO