The Challenge:
Yay, finally a dessert! This week we celebrated Mr. Good Eater’s birthday with Carrot Cake with Ginger Mascarpone Frosting, which you can find here or on page 213 of Foolproof.
Mary’s Take
For this recipe, we thought it would be fun to break our super longstanding tradition of cooking separately. Both of us didn’t need an entire cake, and since we were getting together to have dinner for Mr. Good Eater’s birthday (16? Holy cow, how did that happen so fast?) [Lea: Word. I’m 100 years old.], why not make it together? [Lea: Bwahaha! What I wanted all along!]
What kind of cake did he actually want, you ask? Hint: it wasn’t carrot cake. But he’s a good sport and accepted his role as an important part of the tasting team by allowing us to make it for his day. (They also brought chocolate cupcakes in case our cake was a disaster.) [Lea: Rude.]
Allow me to describe to you how cooking with Lea works. [Lea: Oh boy, this should be good.] She tells you she’ll be at your house after she drops Mr. Picky Pants off at practice at 3:30. At 4:00 I text her and ask if she’s on her way. Her reply: Leaving now. As in, from her house. 15 minutes away. Helpful. No idea how the boy got to practice. [Lea: Well, I’ll tell you. Josh took him. Which gave me more time to finish my actual work. And, when I got to a good stopping point, I left for your house. But brought my computer just in case.]
While I’m waiting, I get all the pretty ingredients together and arrange them for our pic and to make the preparation go faster. Nuts chopped, raisins measured (FYI, 4 little boxes of raisins make one cup…you’re welcome), eggs brought to room temp (if you’re in a hurry, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes) [Lea: Thank you for not putting them in the microwave.], etc. Being the helpful and ever-instructive sister I am, I saved the grating of the carrots for her.
As I was measuring the parchment to line the bottom of the pans, Lea arrived (computer in tow, because of course she still has work to do that day). [Lea: Y'know, we can’t all be ladies of leisure!] She’s ready! What can she do? Put her in, coach!
I set her to work peeling and grating the carrots. First carrot in (or maybe second?) [Lea: Third, actually.], she shreds her finger on the grater (it’s not a party unless you get a little blood in the food, am I right, Heather?) and it Will. Not. Stop. Bleeding. [Lea: Seriously. It was like a knife wound. She’s got one helluva grater!]
(It was verrrry similar to when I was moving from Texas to Ohio. Lea braved her fear of flying to come down to help with the final packing and to drive up to Cleveland with me. She’s ready! What can she do? Picks up the second box she packs and strains her neck. She spent the next 2 days with a heating pad, supervising. I’ve begun to sense a pattern.) [Lea: Yeah, you’re welcome. Btw, it was only one day incapacitated. I helped you, damnit.] [Lea: Oh, and Mommy told me to stop swearing on the blog. Oops.]
So much for her help. She was able to take pictures (and videos!), though, which is hard to do by yourself. [Lea: And you’re welcome again!]
But back to cake-making…while Lea (supervised and) tried to control her persistent bleeding, I made the cake. After mixing the batter together, it was time to add the carrots, walnuts, and raisins. The recipe calls for tossing them together with a tablespoon of flour. Everyone know why that is? [Lea: Is she talking to me? I think so. And no, I didn't know.] It keeps those heavier items from sticking together and falling to the bottom of the pan while it bakes. [Lea: Aha!]
[Lea: Look at my picture! You can almost see the actual tossing!]
Our mom stays away from nuts and seeds, so we took out some of the batter before the raisins and walnuts were added, tossed in some of the shredded carrot and made her a cupcake. (Although if I was really thoughtful, I’d have gone to the store to get seedless raisins so she could at least have those. Maybe next time.)
Lea did get to help make the ginger mascarpone frosting. Here she is, having a ball, sifting powdered sugar.
Pure joy. (Notice the BandAid.) [Lea: I was going to point that out, too! It was a real injury!]
The frosting contains mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, and confectioner’s sugar (which, I should point out (because apparently, not everyone (ahem, Lea) [Lea: And Josh.] knows), is the same as powdered sugar) and also has chopped crystallized ginger. I really had to look for it at the grocery store. One whole $10 jar was used in the making and decorating of the frosting.
The Results:
I love cakes like this that are rustic, without the sides being frosted. I don’t know if I did something wrong, but our frosting was pretty runny. Maybe I left the cream cheese and mascarpone on the counter too long. Maybe I could have used less heavy cream. The next time I make it, I’ll try less cream. I really liked the (costly) crystallized ginger. It brought a little extra unexpected texture and spice to the cake.
Strangely, Mom’s cupcake fell in the middle, but, no worries, we just filled the little dent with extra frosting!
My husband and father really liked it. Not surprising since my dad took home the cake I burnt last week and finished it. [Lea: And when she says ‘burnt’, she means buuuuuurrrnt.] He’s dessert-loving and anti-waste like that.
[Lea: I think my whole family liked it, too, although I forgot to write down comments. All I know is I was super full from dinner and I still kept eating pieces of my cake. I liked it.]
As for cooking with my sister, I’ll do it again…not because she’s a huge help, but because it gives us more things to laugh about when we get old. [Lea: Gee, thanks? Listen, if I’m not here for entertainment value, what am I here for?!]
And maybe she can teach me a little bit about supervising. [Lea: You bet.]
[Lea: You forgot to mention that I cleaned up ALLLLLLL the dishes from the cake AND dinner. So, you’re welcome yet again!] [Mary: With her BandAid and everything! Thanks, Lee!]
Beautiful job Ladies!! Ha, yes Mary love the added touch of the blood, makes every dish special:)
But did the birthday boy like his cake?! It looks delicious. And I’m sure the blood cooked out 😅. Good job, girls!