This Christmas eve four reindeer invaded my house. All of them were Rudolph – none had a red nose but all loved Santa and wanted gifts. Tugga (our son) now has his own social circle. There are the friends who are neighbors, there are class friends and his best friends change almost twice a month.
Read – Winter was late this year in kolkata and we started with mince pies
So this year the mother planned for a christmas eve party for the kids. There were 4 in total but the mayhem was like a tornado. The unique peer belonging which prevails amongst them was worth watching. When one was thirsty, all the remaining 3 also felt thirsty at the same time. If there was 1 chair and 1 of the kids was sitting on it, the other 3 were also trying to sit on the same chair.
The party was well planned by the mother and well executed by everyone (which must have a humble mention of myself). The Christmas tree was put up a couple of days earlier, the Christmas gifts were neatly packed but while the son was asleep and he was never aware that there were gifts for his friends and cousins also.
If the reindeer horns were not enough, the Christmas gifts were super hero masks for the kids. All of a sudden we had Optimus Prime and Spiderman fighting, Captain America and Iron Man hugging each other. These childhood memories are worth treasuring for lifetime .
Parents took an off from office but stayed glued to their phones for office work (anyway the weekend was long and almost everyone was on leave). In the midst of all these, the living room was set up and almost on time, we were ready. The moms were gracious enough to join the party too, the dads gave it a miss leaving me, the odd man around, who could only fiddle with his camera to catch glimpses of what was happening. I rarely post personal pictures in the blog but this is one opportunity which I cannot let go.
While there were plenty to offer for the kids, the spread was not that elaborate for the moms. However this carrot cake literally “took the cake away” .
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients for the cake (Makes one 9 inch cake)
Flour | 2 cups | Castor Sugar | 1 1/2 cups |
Any Veg Oil | 1 cup | Eggs | 3 Nos |
Shredded Carrots | 3 cups | Cinnamon Powder | 2 tsp |
Baking Soda | 1 tsp | Vanilla | 1 tsp |
Salt | 1/2 tsp | Chopped Walnuts | 1 cup |
Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting:
Cream Cheese | 1 cup | Butter | 1/3 cup |
Milk | 2-3 tsp | Icing Sugar | 3-4 cups |
Another extremely moist and delicious recipe of a carrot cake which I (Madhushree) have had with me since my time in Goa (some 15 years back), from a dear friend of mine. That was the first time I had a carrot cake and was totally surprised that a cake could be made with carrots. It is a ‘never fail’ recipe if followed to the ‘t’.
Method:
- Pre heat the oven at 175 degrees celsius and prepare an 9 inch cake tin. For preparing the cake tin, remember to cover the bottom and the sides with extra butter paper (if from inside) or aluminum foil from the outside.
- In a mixing bowl, beats eggs using an electric hand blender.
- Add sugar, oil and beat it once again till it is all incorporated properly.
- Then sieve in the flour along with baking powder, salt and cinnamon powder.
- Fold the flour in the batter very gently.
- Stir in the grated carrots, vanilla and the chopped walnuts.
- When everything is mixed well, pour in the cake tin and spread evenly with the help of a spatula.
- Bake for about 35- 40 minutes. Insert a skewer in the centre of the cake to check if it is done. The skewer should come out clean.
- Once done, let it cool down completely before removing from the cake tin.
- For the frosting, just remember to have your cream cheese and butter at room temperature.
- Beat the cream cheese till its light and fluffy. Add the butter and whip up once again.
- Add the vanilla and the milk.
- Then gradually keep adding the icing sugar and whipping till you have reached the desired consistency of a frosting.
- Apply the frosting on the cake only when the cake is completely cool.
We used Borosil OTG for making this cheese cake. This was a part of the #FBAIReviewbox with FBAI