Good Story, Hansel. Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

I wear contacts. But, I don't always put them in on weekend mornings. Like yesterday, for instance. I got up and started baking immediately so that I could have Jeremy's birthday cake finished by the time we were going to a Friendsgiving. Halfway through the baking process I thought, "Oh hey, I should totally take pictures of this!" So I picked up my camera to shoot.

"Oh. No," I thought. "My camera is BROKEN!!" Nothing I did could get it to focus. I switched modes. I tried working it manually. I had my own personal Zoolander-Hansel technology moment.

Nothing.

And then:

DUH.

I hadn't put my contacts in. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my camera. Drrrrr. But did I put contacts in at that point? Nope. I just shot away and checked in the playback screen to see if the result was what I wanted. For making such a labor-intensive cake, that is one lazy move, letmetellyou.

I don't think it affected me too much, though, since I got this in the end:

Jeremy's favorite is carrot cake, so that is what I made. Carrot cake takes a lot of work, but I think it turned out well. I was also super proud of my frosting job since I haven't frosted a cake in FOREVER. Cupcakes -- yeah, a lot. But it's been a while since I've gotten cozy with a cake. I also haven't written on a cake before . . . I was happy with that, too, considering. Seeing all those cakewrecks, I'm just pleased I spelled everything correctly.

This is another gluten-free recipe. I also made my carrot cake nut free. After the shredding of the carrots, which takes a million years, the rest of the recipe is easy to follow. First, before you do anything, put your raisins in a bowl (or mug) with about a shot of rum. I let mine marinate overnight, but an hour will do. Also, grate those carrots!

Ah, the shredded carrots. I'd say it's about three to four carrots per cup and you'll need three PACKED cups of carrots. I grated my carrots against a grater so all the carrot pieces are small. Then I was like, "Hey, self, you have a Vitamix . . ." So I used that to chop up about half the carrots into even tinier pieces. Set those aside for now.

In a mixer, blend together the sugar, oil, and apple sauce. Then add all the other ingredients in order of how they are listed below.

 Ok, carrots, it's your turn to shine! We welcome you back into the (batter) fold.

 

And now our raisin friends are invited to the party. What am I saying? They ARE the party. (It's ok if the party juice gets in the batter. And by "party juice" I mean "rum.)

I forgot to take pictures of the frosting steps because at this point I was running behind. That's what you get when you decide to run to Hallmark and buy surprise birthday balloons and drop them off at Jeremy's house while your cake cools.

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup oil

½ cup apple sauce

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free all-purpose blend

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

1 pinch salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups (fully packed!) grated carrots

1 1/3 cup raisins, soaked in rum 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9" cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease that.

2. Soak raisins in rum. 

3. Grate carrots. 

4. Beat oil, apple sauce, and sugar.

5. Then add eggs.

6. Add and mix the rest of the cake ingredients in the order given. 

7. Pour into 3 9" cake pans.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. For cupcakes, bake for 20 – 22 minutes.

5. Wait for the cake to cool ENTIRELY before icing.