i’m demanding a new blog entry…. it’s been 3 days. =)

That was the email I received from my sister-in-law this morning. Since she’s agreed to watch the kids overnight this weekend, I’ll comply. Also, the kids are upstairs playing “Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle,” so I have a spare moment. (Even though said spare moment should be dedicated to folding laundry. Oh well.)

Earlier this week, I made a carrot cake for a friend’s birthday. I love carrot cake, and so does she. It’s the foundation of our friendship. There’s a place in town that claims to have the best carrot cake on earth, so we briefly thought about ordering one from them. Until we found out it would cost fifty dollars. And here’s one of my life rules: Do not pay $50 for a cake.

I’ve never made a carrot cake before, so I searched high and low for a great carrot cake recipe, finally deciding on the highly lauded “Sam’s Famous Carrot Cake” with whipped cream cheese frosting. The cake had a good flavor, but it was so dense that I don’t think it qualified as “cake.” I’m 98% certain that had more to do with my equipment than with the recipe, though. I’ve been using silicon cake pans, and I think they’re causing heightened baked-good density. It may also be that the oven’s temperature isn’t what it should be. Someday, I’ll pick up an oven thermometer to keep in there. Until then, I’ll use a different cake pan next time and see whether that makes a difference.

So the cake itself was disappointing — it has, nevertheless, been consumed already — but the frosting? Oh, the frosting! It was terrific. It would make a great fruit dip. Even though that would pretty much negate any nutritional value in the fruit.