We celebrated Jeffrey and my brother’s birthdays yesterday.  Yes, they share the same birthday…many years apart.  I remember sitting on the couch dreading each new contraction while my family celebrated my brother’s birthday with big juicy rib-eye steaks off the grill.  The meal was cut short when I “exclaimed” through gritted teeth,  “I think I need to go to the hospital,  YOU (referring to my brother) will have to take your birthday cake home.”  That was twenty-two years ago. Wow, time flies.

24 Carrot Gold Recipe

The tradition of celebrating every birthday with Wes’s delicious carrot cake would not exist if not for a college girlfriend (his roommate’s), a classmate’s birthday, and a bag of carrots.  After finding a lone bag of carrots in their fridge, John’s girlfriend decided to bake a carrot cake for their classmate’s birthday.  Thus began the love affair between Wes and carrot cake (tough competition for me, lol).  He can’t recall the girlfriend’s name or for that matter the classmate whose birthday they celebrated.  But luckily he asked for her recipe and the rest is, as they say, is history.  Over the years he has modified it to his liking.  Out went the nuts and shredded coconut, in went dark raisins.  He doubled the luscious cream cheese frosting, you can never have too much frosting, and cut down the sugar to temper the sweetness.  This is a classic American cake; spicy, moist, sweet, peppered with pineapple and raisins and finished with a buttery sweet cream cheese frosting. YUM.

One Bowl Babee

That’s how simple and easy this cake is.  Wes pulls out an old tattered goldenrod Tupperware bowl (yes goldenrod, circa 1987), a whisk, and a grater to make his signature cake.  That’s about it.   Grate the carrots on the small holes of the grater. He likes a denser cake and will often throw the pineapple in without draining.  Drain the pineapple for a lighter, less dense cake. Bake the cake in a 9×13 rectangular cake, or  2-2 x 9-inch circular pans or in muffin tins to make cupcakes.  Throw some nuts in if you like, walnuts are usually the nut of choice.

Frost, Frost Baby

Tips for the cream cheese frosting:   Start with slightly softened butter but not warm, whip the butter first, add the cream cheese and continue to whip the two until light and creamy before adding the sugar.  Once the sugar is added, beat just long enough to fully incorporate the sugar, and then STOP.  Overbeating after adding the powdered sugar will cause the frosting to lose its structure.

So there you have it, hubby’s two favorite recipes, Good Cookies, and Carrot Cake.  I hope you’ll try them, both are absolutely delicious.  In fact…

I think I will go have a slice of cake right now.

Happy Birthday, Anson and Jeffrey!