Join Me in My Addiction!

Thank you for visiting my blog...and for allowing me to share with you my addiction. I love to collect recipes. I love to read cookbooks. I have been collecting recipes for as long as I can remember, and on any given day there are one or two (or more!) cookbooks residing on my nightstand!

This blog is chronicling my adventure as I fulfill my resolution of trying (at least) one new recipe each week. I hope that you enjoy!

I invite you to join me in my journey, simply by clicking the "Join this Site" link below. And please feel free to comment on any of the recipes, and pin away. Thanks, I look forward to sharing with you!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Bunny Carrot Cake and a Feature!

Let's talk about DESSERT!

For the first time in a few years, we did not host our son's birthday party over the Easter long weekend.  So, I had a little extra time to make a different sort of cake (not the birthday sort...yet!), and with our son nearly 5, he is caught right up in all the Easter excitement.  I saw this picture at The Southern Lady Cooks, which inspired me to try my own Easter Bunny cake for dessert.  And I figured, since it is Easter, we need carrot cake!  I was going to try out my Mom's carrot cake recipe for the project, but then I found that the full baking instructions weren't written on the copy of the recipe that I have, and since she and my Dad are off rv'ing I can't just call her and ask her all the details. So I found a different carrot cake recipe to try.  I based my cake on one found in Company's Coming - Desserts and combined it with my Mom's recipe.  Here is how I made my carrot cake:

1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and cooking oil.  Add in eggs, one at a time, beating.  Add in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add to the wet ingredients, stirring to mix.

Stir in the carrots and raisins.  Pour into greased cake pans (two 8x8s, two 9x9s or one 9x13 pan).

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and frost.

I baked the cake late at night, so I left the cakes to cool overnight and made my frosting in the morning.  I frosted the cake with the same Cream Cheese Icing recipe that I used earlier in the week to frost the yummy Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins that I made for my son's preschool, except that I doubled the recipe to ensure that I had enough icing :-)

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups icing sugar

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Beat well.  Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. 

Now, onto putting the cake together!

Assembling the Cake:
You'll see that I made the cake to look a little more "bunny" like.  I made the cakes using two 8" rounds, and cut both of the cakes in half.  I took three of the halves to make the back end of the bunny - I put some icing between each layer and stuck them together. The remaining half I cut in half again and made the bunny's head (again, icing between the layers and stuck them together.  I generously frosted the cake with the cream cheese icing, and used decorating gel for the eyes, whiskers, nose and mouth (in black and pink).  I sprinkled unsweetened coconut on top of the icing for a more fur-like effect (I used as much as I thought was necessary - probably 1/3-1/2 cup).  I used some of my crafting paper to make the ears (in pink and white).  It was a cute little bunny, not bad for someone who isn't very good at decorating cakes!!

VERDICT:
The cake was well-received by everyone!  Everyone thought it was pretty cute and said it was tasty.  My icing only eating 4 year old ate some of the cake, which rarely happens!  He even asked me to make him a bunny cake for his birthday party next weekend.  That's a good sign.  My husband, who "does not like cake" said that it was really good, which was also evident by how clean his cake plate was after dessert!  My maternal Grandparents, who joined us for dinner, both said "whoa, those are big pieces" when I was slicing the cake, but both of their plates were clean afterwards too!  I thought it was delicious, a nice, moist, heavy but not heavy cake (does that make sense?!), very tasty indeed.  The cream cheese icing was perfect - not overly sweet, and the unsweetened coconut on top was great too!  This one could become a new Easter tradition, you never know!

Photobucket


I am so excited to share with you that another of my recipes has been featured!  Thank you My Favorite Finds for featuring my Baked Not Fried Fries - these have been a popular post!  If you haven't checked out the recipe yet, you should.  They were so good!


Would love for you to "Like" me on Facebook! 


61 comments:

  1. Y Your cake is beautiful. I am so happy you made this cake and liked it. Most children love it and your cake recipe would make it even better. Have a great week and thanks!

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    1. Thank you for the inspiration! I had a second helping of the cake last night and it really is tasty :-)

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  2. This bunny-cake is beautiful!!
    very ceative
    Happy holiday to you and all your family

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    1. Thank you Winnie! We have had a wonderful weekend :-) Hope you have too!

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  3. Oh how cute! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday :)

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  4. Congrats on being featured. I love the bunny cake very cute.

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    1. Thank you! My oldest son loved it so much, he asked that I make another one for his birthday!

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  5. Love the cake!! Carrot is one of my favs. Congratulations on being featured... how awesome!

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    1. Thanks Carla! This is a tasty recipe too. Hope you give it a try!

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  6. Congratulations with the feature! And that bunny is too cute to be eaten. :)

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  7. The bunny is adorable. I made cupcakes for the first time ever this Easter - maybe I will try a cake next year! That would be a good goal but probably ambitious!
    Great feature -
    Leigh @oneandoneequalstwinfun.com

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    1. Hi Leigh! I have faith that you could pull it off - it wasn't as hard as some of the desserts that I've tried to put together. The longest part was grating the carrots, only because I hand grated them as I baked late at night and didn't want to wake the kids by using the food processor. The rest of it wasn't too bad to put together. Lots of icing helps :-)

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  8. This is so cute! And the carrot cake sounds delicious!
    I would love for you to link it up to my link party. I know my readers would love it too! http://weliketolearnaswego.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-i-learned-wednesday-5.html

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    1. Thank you for the invitation Alexis! I'll be at your party soon!

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  9. Love this cake, I meant to post the other day when I saw it on one of the link parties, I will attempt to make this into a cupcake but with whole wheat flour.

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  10. You are creative to combine your Mom's recipe with another one you found- and your cake looks beautiful! I would've loved to have a taste of it :) Stopping by from vB, hope you have a great day!

    ~Jinnia

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    1. Thanks Jinnia! I'm pleased with how it turned out :-) Thanks for visiting!

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  11. Oooh that is so cute and looks delicious! You are so creative!
    Thanks for linking up to the Recipe Roundup!

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  12. A perfect cake for the holiday. Excellent job and the recipe sounds delicious. I'm hosting a color challenge and would love you to link your adorable bunny cake at http://kidswonderart.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-color-challenge-is-yellow.html

    Thanks,
    Michele

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    1. Thanks Michele! I've stopped by - looking forward to seeing your future challenges!

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  13. Well deserved on your award! Congrats! Your bunny cake is adorable. I am impressed:) Thanks so much for sharing with us at Kids in the Kitchen. Can't wait to see what you make next week.

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  14. Thanks Marilyn! I will work on my post and get it up soon!

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  15. A new follower coming over from the mingle. Wow the cake looks fantastic!

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    1. Welcome Susan! Thanks! It was tasty too :-) Have a great night!

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  16. OK...this is the most adorable cake, EVER!!! Awesome job :)

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  17. The bunny and the fries look great! Congrats on the feature.

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    1. Thanks Mindie! Made the fries for dinner again tonight, using all sweet potatoes this time. So good :-)

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  18. Found you via the Happy-Go-Lucky hop. That bunny cake is so cool! And I'm checking out that baked french fry recipe right now. :)

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    1. Glad you found me! Hope you find some recipes that you like!

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  19. It's adorable!! I think you did a fantastic job!!

    Maysem @ http://odetoinspiration.wordpress.com

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  20. It's too cute to eat and it looks awesome. Love the ears :) Hope you had a great Easter. Can't wait to see your next creations.

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  21. Your Easter Bunny Cake is just amazing! Hope you are having a wonderful Spring day. Thank you so much for sharing your great recipe with Full Plate Thursday and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

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    1. I did have a wonderful spring day, the 13th was my oldest son's 5th birthday! Thanks Miz Helen! See you soon :-)

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  22. This cake looks really good, it's perfect for Easter! Thank you for sharing at Showcase Your Talent Thursday. I hope to see you there next week!

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  23. This was the perfect cake for Easter. Great job!

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  24. This cake is too cute! Thanks for sharing at Church Supper. Have a blessed week ~EMM

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  25. thanks for linking up this cute little bunny cake for Kids In the Kitchen! we're happy to have you- we link each week - hope to see ya again!

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    1. You`re welcome Kelli! Thanks for hosting! I will come and visit again for sure!

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  26. Thanks so much Wendy for the invitation - I have linked up! Welcome to my blog, hope you will come back soon!

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  27. What a fun cake! Too cute that it's a carrot cake...lol. Thanks for sharing this at Shine on Fridays! Hope to see you again this weekend!

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  28. Thanks for linking up to What I Learned Wednesday! I hope you'll come again soon!

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  29. This is an adorable easter bunny cake! Love it! thank you so much for linking to Foodie Friday! Please come back this week! xo

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    1. Thanks so much! Glad you stopped by, and that you like my cake:-)

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  30. Thank you for participating in Show Your Stuff Blog Hop, You are invited to come back:
    http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/04/show-your-stuff-20.html

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  31. Super Cute cake!!! Thank you so much for sharing with Simple Supper Tuesday.

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  32. Newest follower here! I found you through the blog hop, you have a wonderful blog! You can find me at meandmr.com

    -Melanie @ meandmr.com

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  33. Thanks so much for linking up with "Try a New Recipe Tuesday." This looks SO good! I am featuring this recipe this coming Tuesday! Congratulations! :-) Be sure to come by and grab a "I've been featured" button. The post will go live around 11pm Eastern on Monday evening.

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  34. So cute! I love carrot cake!

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