Carrot and Pecan Cake Recipe

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Pecans and carrots make a wonderful combo for anyone looking for a traditional and homemade taste. Among all the carrot cake recipes we've looked into, this one is perhaps the most easy and delicious to make. When you bake this wonder, make sure to set a good piece aside for you because it won't last!

Ingredients

3 Cups of grated carrots

4 Eggs

1 1/4 Cups of vegetable oil

2 Tsp. of ground cinnamon

2 Tsp. of vanilla extract

2 Cups of all-purpose flour

2 Tsp. of baking soda

2 cups white sugar

2 Tsp. of baking powder

1 Chopped pecans cup

1/2 Tsp. of salt

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup chopped pecans

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 Tsp. of vanilla extract

Directions

Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan and preheat oven to 350 °F.

Using a large bowl, beat together white sugar, oil, eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in baking soda, flour, salt, cinnamon, carrots, pecans and baking powder. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Put into preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Take cake out of the oven and let it cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let it cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour. While the cake cools down: In a bowl, combine cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is creamy. Add in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Dessert Recipe - Let Them Eat Chocolate Cake

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Baking a really good chocolate cake from scratch is not difficult. Anyone with rudimentary skills in the kitchen can manage it. Cake mixes are good, but with a little extra effort, you can make a cake the old fashioned way and really have a special dessert. About the only difference from using a mix is that you have to spend a couple minutes assembling the ingredients and then you are just blending it in a big bowl with an electric mixer.

In this chocolate cake recipe, you can use either cocoa powder or melt squares of unsweetened chocolate. This versatility adds to the convenience of the dessert recipe because you can use either form of baking chocolate, depending on what happens to be in the cupboard. Although you can also use either all-purpose flour or cake flour, a cake made with cake flour will have a finer and softer texture. Don't worry if you only have all-purpose flour. Your cake will still turn out fine.

When you go shopping for the ingredients, keep in mind that a good chocolate cake, or any chocolate dessert, starts with selecting a good chocolate. Going upscale, especially with something from Europe, is definitely worth the extra couple bucks. Common products from Hershey's or Nestle are just adequate, not great.

Chocolate cake recipe ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour or cake flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled OR 2/3 cup cocoa powder
 
Select the type of cake pan that you wish to use for baking. You can choose from two or three round 8 or 9 inch pans, bundt cake pan, or 13 x 9 inch rectangular pan. With shortening or butter grease your pan and then dust with flour. This ensures that the cake will not stick and comes out of the pans easily.
 
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. If using chocolate squares, melt them on very low heat or use a double boiler and then let the chocolate cool. If using the cocoa powder you can mix it in immediately with the other dry ingredients.
 
Assemble the dry ingredients into a bowl and then add the buttermilk, water, vanilla, oil, and eggs (and melted chocolate if that is what you are using). With an electric mixer, beat on high for 3 minutes until the batter has a smooth consistency with no lumps. If you don't have an electric mixer, use a large spoon or whisk and stir hard until batter is smooth.
 
Pour the batter into pans and bake according to these guidelines:
 
Round cake pans: 35 minutes
Bundt pan: 55 minutes
Rectangular pan: 45 minutes
 
Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. If cake is still gooey bake another five or ten minutes, but you do not want the cake to get too dry. When baking is done, cool the cake in its pan or pans. When pans are cool to the touch, you can invert the pans and remove the cakes. Use a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake if necessary.
 
Once the cake is completely cool, select the type of frosting you want to use. It is important to make sure that the cake is not the least bit warm before frosting because this will heat the frosting and make it sloppy.

Wheat Free Cake - Selection Criteria For Substitute Flour

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How to bake a wheat free cake?

Generally when you have wheat intolerance you have to eliminate all food with wheat, which includes one of our favorite dessert like cake. If you are a fan of cakes or pastries, do not despair. It is not the end of the world. Good news is you can use other wheat free flour in your cooking.

Even though wheat is the most common flour used in baking, it doesn't mean that it is the only one. There are various other types of flour which can be used for baking. You can also find some specialty shops which has premixes of the various wheat free flour ready for baking. Besides that it is also possible to try recipes for flourless cake.

When looking at a substitute for wheat flour in baking cake, a few considerations have to be in place:

1. Find out the texture of the flour. Some substitute is more refined, by others are coarser. Choose one which is suitable. For example brown rice flour is grainier than the regular flour that you are used to. It is also heavier and normally is not used alone.

2. Taste of the flours. Certain substitute like potato flour has strong potato taste, some like buckwheat can be bitter. Some flour has nutty taste. When choosing a substitute, you may want to opt for those with minimal taste, so that if you add any essence e.g. vanilla or strawberry essence to your cake, you know what it will taste like when it's done! You can also test baking with additional condiments. This may mask the flour taste e.g. adding cinnamon or even chocolate. This is very true especially if the flour taste is very mild.

3. Mixing flour and binding agent. One of the reasons why wheat flour is commonly used for baking is because the gluten in wheat flour binds the dough. If the flour that you choose as substitute doesn't have gluten, then there are several ways to bind the dough. You can substitute half a cup of water with egg white. Another common substitute is guar gum or xanthan gum or add some plain gelatin to your mixture.

4. Color of the flour will affect the looks of your cake. Most likely if you are baking a chocolate cake this doesn't matter very much because the color of the cake is dark. However, if you plan to bake Swiss roll or plain cake then you have to consider the color of the flour itself. Rye flour for example is dark in colour and has a strong flavor. This is very easily done by checking on the color itself before you buy.

5. Gluten content of the flour will indicate whether you need to any binding agent. When baking a wheat free cake - for yourself as well as others, you have to find out whether that person can tolerate gluten. There are people who are allergic to not only wheat but also gluten. In which case the substitute that you choose must also be gluten free.

6. Experiment - no doubt the result that you get may be very different than your normal baking. It may be better! Or....it may not taste as good. Do some experiment because you may come up with tasty and delicious recipes just like others. You may look back with a sense of achievement and gratitude when you discover wonderful recipes which are also nutritious and good for your body.

Good luck in your baking!

What is the Wilton Cake Decorating Method?

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The Wilton cake decorating method is the most common way of decorating cakes. Yes, there are other ways to do it. For example, there's the Lambeth Method and the Australian Method. The Wilton method, however, is the one you see displayed in shop windows. It's the one that you learn when you take a class in a craft or hobby shop. Frankly, it makes the most beautiful and interesting cakes.

There are a couple of things that make the Wilton method different from other approaches to decorating cakes. The first is the kind of frosting that's used. The second is the kind of pan that's used.

Most methods use royal icing. This does actually allow for more intricate designs. With the Wilton method, however, buttercream frosting is used. Since buttercream frosting is heavier, it can be used to make larger, more ornate designs. A design can have large flowers or animals.

The second (and most interesting) difference between the Wilton cake decorating method and others is that the Wilton approach to designing cakes actually uses shaped cake pans. With other methods, only square or round pans are used. With the Wilton take on cake decorating, pans can be shaped like trucks or horses or cartoon characters or anything you please. With other methods, the artistry is all in the icing. With Wilton, the cake is part of the art work too. You don't just draw a car in the icing, the cake itself is the car and the icing is the car's paint job.

Strawberry Cake Recipe and Tips

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Snow may still be on the ground, but spring is right around the corner. What better way to celebrate the change of season than with a home-baked strawberry cake?

While strawberry season traditionally runs June through mid-August, these days, thanks to improvements in horticultural techniques, you can find ripe strawberries in the produce section of your favorite supermarket as early as April. And if you're craving spring in February, you can use frozen strawberries. The cake will be just as delicious.

But put that box of Jello back on the shelf! You won't need it, and you won't need artificial food coloring either. This is strawberry cake as it was meant to be - melt-in-your-mouth luscious and 100% natural.

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup strawberry puree (recipe below)
-1/4 cup milk
-6 large egg whites
-1 Tbsp vanilla extract
-2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
-1 3/4 cup sugar
-4 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

Yields: Two 8 inch cake layers

An hour before you begin, take the strawberry puree, milk, and eggs out of your refrigerator so they are at room temperature when you blend them. Half an hour later, take out the butter - it shouldn't be at room temperature, but it will need to be "softened."

Preheat your oven to 350. Line two 8 inch circular cake pans with aluminum foil, spray with baking spray (don't overdo!) and lightly dust with flour.

Separate your egg whites. Then blend the strawberry puree, milk, egg whites and vanilla with a fork in a small bowl.

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Attach the bowl to the mixer, and then s-l-o-w-l-y begin beating in the butter. The resulting mixture should look like crumbs.

Add the strawberry puree blend to the mixing bowl, a little at a time. Beat the resulting mixture at medium speed for a minute until everything is blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix for another 30 seconds.

Pour the mixture into the cake pans, dividing evenly and smoothing the tops. Bake for approximately 25 minutes - time will vary depending upon your altitude and how evenly your oven heats. The best way to tell if your cake is baked is always the old toothpick trick - stick a toothpick into the center of the cake and if it comes out clean, you're good.

The cakes will need to cool for ten minutes before you turn them over onto your cake rack. And they should be at room temperature (another two hours) before you frost them.

Strawberry puree:

Three boxes of ripe strawberries or 24 oz of frozen strawberries

Yield: 1 and 1/4 cups strawberry puree.

If you're using frozen strawberries, you will need to defrost them before you use them, making sure to remove all the excess liquid that you can.

Fresh strawberries will need to be washed, hulled, sliced and sprinkled with two teaspoons of sugar. Let them sit at room temperature for two hours before you use them.

After the strawberries are prepped, just pop them into a food processor or blender and hit "puree."

Chocolate Cake

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There's an old saying that says that 'you will not know whats heaven like until you have not tasted chocolate'. For a chocolate lover like me, I couldn't agree more. My heartfelt sympathy goes to those who are allergic to this heavenly gift. For the rest of us, then I'm sure that you're already aware the chocolate cake (or anything that has chocolate in it for that matter) is the best ever and most popular dessert ever created.

There's just something magical about a piece of dark, moist, rich piece of chocolate cake with a layer of sinful looking creamy chocolate frosting on it, Smiles appear, happy moods return, grumbles turn into giggles.

I'm convinced that anyone can find a type of chocolate cake that he or she loves. Here's a lit for the still uninitiated. The list is endless :-

Here goes:

Chocolate chip cheese cake, German chocolate cake, jelly roll chocolate cake, chocolate kraut bundt cake, chocolate fudge cake, chocolate mud cake, chocolate crème cake, chocolate eruption cake, best ever chocolate cake, chocolate caramel cake, rich chocolate cake, flourless chocolate cake, chocolate and orange cake, sour cream cake with chocolate, chocolate lava cake, chocolate banana cake, royal chocolate cake, molten chocolate cake, chocolate cherry cake, chocolate chip cookie cake, chocolate walnut cake, chocolate pudding cake, sinless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate mayonnaise cake, chocolate chip pound cake, double chocolate chocolate cake, chocolate rum cake, low fat chocolate cake, chocolate zucchini cake etc etc ...........

If you still can't find something you like, you don' know what you're missing. It doesnt matter
what you put in , just make sure its moist and taste good. It will bound to put a smile even on the most grumpy of all grouches.

A Few Simple Tips On How To Lose Fat

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Being overweight can make you miserable, even if it is just a little bit. You can tell even if others can't. It affects your self-esteem, makes you self-conscious, and can even be depressing. There are no miracle diets, and working out ten hours a day, seven days a week is no way to live, and you couldn't, even if you wanted to. With just a few simple tips on how to lose fat, you can start to feel better about yourself with really very little effort on your part.

Of course everyone will tell you that exercise is the key. That is true, but really you just want to move your body, do something and not sit around all the time. Skip the car and the bus when you can and walk to where you need to go. Forgo the elevator and take the stairs at least once a day if you have the choice. Don't force yourself to do things you hate, build up a habit so that you automatically do things that are good for your body and that give you natural exercise.

Say no to white food. Yes, discriminating against your food is necessary, and white carbohydrates are many dieters downfall. It can be hard at first, especially when it seems like everywhere you turn pasta, rice, cakes, and bread are calling out to you. But remember, these are not your friends. Sure they taste great, but they won't make you look great. You can break this rule though by eating some carbohydrates after a good workout.

Skip the calorie intense drinks. People tend to forget that they can drink their calories as well as eat them. Drink your coffee and tea without the sugar and cream; grab a diet cola instead of a sugar filled one. And, remember to drink plenty of water.

One tip successful dieters share is eating the same meals again and again. Create a selection of good for you foods that taste great, and mix and match them so it doesn't get too boring. Add plenty of good proteins like lean beef, egg whites, chicken breasts, and pork. Don't skimp on the vegetables, things like peas, spinach, and mixed vegetables are full of good stuff and will fill you up without adding the extra calories.

When you do eat, eat as much as you want, but don't overstuff yourself. Replacing your pasta and rice with vegetables will cut 200 or more calories from each meal, and you'll still leave the table full and satisfied. And eat frequently. Some recommend four to eight small meals a day to help you lose weight.

The downfall of many dieters is that they restrict all the "bad" foods. So when they crash, they crash hard, overeating and giving up on the diet because they feel they have no self-control. If you restrict yourself from all those foods, you set yourself up for a fall. Take one day a week and make it your crazy food day. Eat whatever you want, whenever you want. If fast-food is your weakness, then enjoy it. Candy and chocolate calling you, then eat it. One day of eating what you want will actually help maintain your metabolism and prevent you from failing.

Vampire Bat Chocolate Cake

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Everyone loves chocolate cake; hand here is a fun recipe to make a Halloween cake that looks like a bat. It's not hard to make, it starts off as a simple Chocolate Victoria sandwich cake but it is cleverly cut and put together to look like a bat.

Ingredients

2 tbsp cocoa

3 tbsp boiling water

225g/8oz soft margarine

225g/8oz caster sugar

4 eggs

225g/8oz self-raising flour

2tsp baking powder

For the Filling and Topping:

Strawberry jam

50g/2oz soft margarine

175g/6oz icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp milk

A bar of Cooking Chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease and base line 20cm / 2x8in sandwich tins with greased greaseproof paper.

2. Blend the cocoa and water in a mixing bowl then leave to cool slightly. Measure all the remaining ingredients into the bowl and beat well until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level out.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tins for a few moments then turn out, peel off the paper and finish cooling on a wire rack.

4. To make the butter cream, blend together the margarine, icing sugar and milk until smooth. Keep one of the pieces of sponge cake whole to form the base. Spread a thin even layer of jam on the cake base, and add half the icing and spread this out over the top of the jam.

5. Take the second piece of sponge and with a large round pastry cutter, cut a circle in the middle of the sponge. Now cut two more circles, one above and one below the centre hole. The two big cake halves left form the bats wings, stick them on top of the base of the cake with the scalloped shaped edges sticking outwards. (See picture at link below)

6. Take two of the three circles that were cut away when making the wings. Stick the two circles together with jam and icing and stick them in one of the triangle shapes between the wings to form the bat's head. The final circle should be cut in half and stuck with icing above the bat's head to form the ears. Bats have large ears you know.

7. Melt the cooking chocolate in the microwave for a couple of minutes - stirring half way through. Melt the cooking chocolate in the microwave for a couple of minutes - stirring half way through. Spread the chocolate evenly over the bat's wings, head and ears. Give the Bat a face with some icing and red jelly sweets for spooky eyes.

This lovely bat cake makes a great centrepiece to any table. It will look as if you have spent hours slaving away to make him but as you will know, he was rather quick and easy. Just watch the slices of cake fly off the plate!

A few batty jokes...

Why don't bats live alone?

They prefer to hang out with their friends.

How can you tell a vampire likes baseball?

Every night he turns into a bat.

How does a lady bat attract a mate?

She bats her eyes.

Why doesn't anybody like Dracula?

He has a bat temper.

A group of bats, hanging at the ceiling of a cave, discovers a single bat standing upright underneath on the floor of the cave. Surprised by this unusual behaviour, they ask this fellow: "What the heck are you doing down there?" And the fellow shouts back: "Yoga!"