Miss me? Birthday-Belated Post 1: Birthday Carrot Cake with Carrotfetti and Toasted Carrot Rosebuds

Well, I missed my first posts.  I know, I know -- most people are only trying to blog during the week, but I liked the idea of blogging every day during this month.  However, I think and hope you'll agree that I missed my posts for a good cause -- namely, an impromptu birthday getaway to Portland, Maine!  WOOHOO!

Before I get into the delights of Portland, I want to go back to my Sunday teaser.  Although my one, lone commenter (thank you!), did correctly guess that part of the special nature of the flowers was in fact their connection to my birthday, here is the other special part -- they were made out of CARROTS!  Yes, you read correctly -- flowers out of carrots!

And with this post, we return to tradition again.  All cakes are not created equal.  You may have noticed that I like chocolate and peanut butter.  I think I've commented elsewhere or should do so now that a good yellow cake with chocolate frosting (preferably eaten out of a pan) can solve many of one's life problems.  However, there is only one cake that I have ever wanted on my birthday -- my mom's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Although there have been a few years where I have not gotten to have this deliciousness (either from not being with said madre on my birthday or my previous reluctance about baking (I know, can you believe it?)), this is the first time that I was veganizing the recipe and adding my own touches.  Yes, I did make my own birthday cake, but other people sang to me so not to worry!

For the topping, I was inspired by the Fur Family Truffle topping that I made the other day.  In continuing my inquiry into products that I have previously consumed, I've learned that the additives in many decorative toppings are not vegan, and, as we know in general, the fewer additives and unprocessed foods the better in terms of our health  I also have been thinking a lot about how incorporating produce in a fun way is another way to engage people into playing with and thus learning more about produce.  Carrots were a natural selection here, given the nature of the cake, and I was curious if I could make kind of a streamer-esque centerpiece decoration.  So, I peeled (and gave fur helpers) the top peel layer and then peeled down to the core (2 carrots).  Then, I toasted the peels in the oven for about an hour at 250 degrees.  This temp was a bit higher than the one I used last time so as to reduce oven time.  After the hour, some of the peels were crispy and darker brown and some of them still had a bit of the fleshy element to them, but I liked the mix, especially because when I roughly minced them into "Carrotfetti," there was a nice variation of color that looked gorgeous sprinkled on the cake.

As for the rosebuds, about halfway through the cooking time, I simply shaped about 5-7 of the larger peels into buds.  Next time, I will try to make some larger multiple peel buds, but I was really happy with how these turned out for a first try.  As a person who loves to make treats beautiful but thinks that frosting overdose is the quickest way to ruin a fantastic cake, I love the idea of playing with produce to make the decoration as opposed to plopping on another glob of icing.  And frankly, this icing is sweet enough that it doesn't need any help in the sugar arena.  I think next year, I will further reduce the sugar altogether in both the cake and the icing, by either subbing with some agave or maple syrup in the cake and adding more cream cheese and reducing the sugar in the frosting.  Side note:  I made the cake with flax egg and applesauce instead of oil -- oh yeah!  For the full carrot cake recipe, check out http://therevisioniststreatery.blogspot.com or click the link to the right in the Blog Roll!

Mmmm....cake.
K