White cake with lime

Now THIS was a yummy cake.  I was mixing up the white cake, determined to have something really delicious made when I thought about adding some lime to the mix.  I searched and found two petrified limes in the door of the fridge and juiced them.  I got maybe 4 table spoons of juice out of them and just went ahead with the baking as usual.  I then made a glaze.  I elected to not stack the cakes this time since I was just experimenting.  I poked holes all over the first pan and spooned 1/2 cup of glaze over it to sink into the holes.
Glaze
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
juice of 4-5 limes.
Normally I'd add some zest, too because it is delicious and super pretty
Boil it. Cool it. Spoon it over the cake.
Very easy and no precision needed.

Cake recipe


After finishing messing with the 2nd layer, I IMMEDIATELY cut it up and put it in the freezer because it was too tempting to eat it all.  I would have if I'd been able to. Very yummy.  I think that I'll try this again with oranges when winter comes and fresh picked oranges without chemicals are in season here.  MMmmm.....

Dang it.  I forgot to take a picture.  I think this means that I'll just have to make another one!

Carrot cake made with baby food

This carrot cake was not too moist and not too great but it was the first time I ever made cream cheese frosting and it was worth it just for that.  I packed up the remainder of the cake to give away and there it went.
Carrot cake made with baby food instead of fresh carrots

This recipe also called for nuts in the frosting.  That was a bit disastrous.  I normally like nuts in a cake but not this time.  The total cost for the cake was 5$.  It would have cost me 3$ if I had not wasted the nuts in it.  Live and learn.

The price for a similarly sized carrot cake in the grocery store was 9$.  I am guessing the quality would be about the same.  Very ho-hum.

 

 I can't imagine not having actual carrots in a carrot cake so I stirred some in.  

Cake #1-Baker's Recipe

I am planning to try to experiment with cake options until I find the one(s) that I want for that upcoming event in the spring.  Here is my first attempt. 

First, this is the site that I discovered the recipe at:
My Baker’s Crush: BAKED (and The Whiteout Cake)

This cake was the most labor-intensive cake I have ever made thus far.  The batter was promising and really seemed to be hinting at a total winner. 

Then I removed it from the oven.  First off, my home smelled like cake, but not heavenly as often occurs.  It looked okay, but not mouth-watering.  The texture was "okay" and the flavor was good, but certainly not better than the throw-it-all-in-and-stir type of cakes. 

Overall, I'd recommend this cake to no one.  On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being incredible and 1 being dogfood, I'd rate this a 3. Almost a 2 because of the work involved.

The icing was interesting.  It is a boiled icing and honestly, it was disappointing to say the least.  I grated some lime zest into it for some kick and that gave just an essence of oomph.  Much better, IMHO.  I'd only use this in the future as a filling for something like a Twinkie.  Seriously, that is exactly what this icing was like.  If I ever make those icing doughnuts for anybody, this is what I'll fill them with.

I debated about washing the rest of the icing down the drain, but figured that I have plenty of Zip-locs and freezer space so why not keep it. 

Getting ready.  I don't have cake pans yet so I made do with these goofy flowery ones that I re-discovered in my kitchen.  The towel strips are to help keep the tops even.  I'll have to try one with and one without to experiment on the difference.

I don't have enough space to do 3 layers so I cup-caked some extras in little heart shaped foils that I got on sale for almost nothing.  This was after 25 minutes.

Cooling down.

Ready for icing.  The icing took a long time and is the mirror of Twinkie filling.

A cake decorator I am NOT so..I made do by sprinkling on some little yellow "crowns" that I got on sale last night.  The sprinkles came in a set of 4 kinds--yellow crown, blue high heels, red apples, and pearls.  I really wanted the pearls to top the wedding cake.  Looking at my lack of talent here, if I don't improve by spring, we will NEED those pearls to distract from my mess!