Jenni's Pineapple Carrot Cake

Josh is a fan of carrot cake. But not just any carrot cake. I mean, any carrot cake is fine and all that, but his all time favorite carrot cake in the world is the carrot cake that his friend Jenni Shimizu (nee Jenni Borden, she of the Summer Chicken & Eggplant Tomato Soup) made back during their good ol' days at Macalester College. Seriously, Josh loves her carrot cake. It has taken on legendary status in our house. Or at least in his mind, and the ears of anyone whom he can get to listen to his tales of the carrot cake -- oh, the carrot cake! Has he told you about the carrot cake?...

As someone who doesn't much like carrot cake in general (my idea of a good dessert is pretty limited to cheesecake and key lime pie, beyond that, I don't much care--shocker!), the nuances of what makes her cake the most special cake in the world is lost on me. But as a good wife - and really, just an all around amazing person - I was smart enough to save the carrot cake recipe, which Jenni blissfully included in our recipe book, for Josh's birthday.

Josh's birthday falls on Christmas Day, which means we have to do everything we can do make it special. Luckily, Josh isn't fussy about it, which means we don't have to do much. But I still want to try.

Every year it goes like this: Christmas morning is Christmas--gift opening, chocolates, breakfast/lunch--what I as a Jew can only surmise is the usual routine houses the country/world 'round. Then there is often a mid-day nap after all the morning opening activity. The afternoon then becomes Josh's birthday, so there is Josh present opening and Josh birthday cake (which either his mother or I, or sometimes both, bake during the morning) followed by dinner.

When we're in Iowa, this dinner often includes one of the Turkish Iowa State students (Josh's dad was in the Peace Corps in Turkey in the '60s, and somehow as a result is kind of a default host-family-person-type for some of the Turkish students in Ames). They may or may not stop by at any point in time, which leads to a lot of speculation and general Turk-related excitement. Then we rope said Turks (their names are Tolga and Halim) into evening board games, which they gamely play with us.

This is what everyone's Christmas night is like, right? Turk graduate students come over and play Cranium with you? (For all I know, it is. Everything after going to Weylu's and seeing Sherlock Holmes on Christmas is Greek to me. Or Turkish. Hilarious!)

Anyhow, this year, as I said in my previous post, we did Christmas down in San Diego with Josh's sister's family. We arrived at Wyn & Sean's house in the morning to begin the Christmas festivities. As my niece and nephew are now 3 1/2 years old, they were definitely able to appreciate things. They'd open a gift (or ask for help), either be totally bored by a toy or play with it for a while, and then at some point come back and ask if there were more things to open. In short, they got into the spirit, which was very cute - and not just because they both clearly liked what Josh and I got them (What can I say? We're amaaazing).

By the time we made it through lunch ('Can I have more bacon?' 'Why are we eating outside?' 'I want to sit next to Mommy!' 'I want to take my clothes off NOW!!' 'Can I have MORE bacon?'), I will admit I was looking forward to the customary Xmas nap. Unfortunately, it was cake time. And we were out of carrots. Whoops.

Luckily the grocery across the way was open, so Josh and I got the carrots (and, it must be added here, ingredients for Josh to make his terrific mojitos) and I pulled myself together to make the cake.

Quite a challenge trying to bake in someone else's kitchen, where you don't know what they have let alone where they keep it, but I prevailed. Luckily Josh's mom was there to help me find said things.

When frosting time rolled around, my niece Bryn was pretty excited to help me measure it out and stir it. As crazy as Josh is about the carrot cake, he is ten times that around the frosting. Apparently Jesus came down from heaven to give him that frosting or something, so Josh marched around the kitchen skeptically making sure Bryn and I were doing things right. I can't imagine this is good for a 3-year-old's psyche, but I told her that Uncle Josh was just really, really excited about the frosting. And that he was sure that he would do a good job, but wasn't so sure about me. Not certain that she bought it, but I do think she had fun both helping mix the frosting and then spreading it onto the cake. Truth be told, she was pretty good at it.

Side note: Somehow, the twins call Josh 'Uncle Josh', and me 'Heather.' How is this fair?

I had to do some serious bargaining to get my assistant to pose with me
for this picture. Evidently Bryn had a rigorous schedule with her
play-dough and her hamster we had to work around.

Josh's glee at eating the cake could only be matched by the twins' glee at getting to help him blow out the candles, which was pretty cute. Almost as cute as Jack's constant, 'NOW DO WE BLOW?' ('No, Jack, we sing first,').

Jack, demonstrating the proper cake-eating headgear

The cake itself was well-received by all, including--most importantly--Josh, who pronounced it up to Jenni's lofty standards. Thank God. As for myself, I didn't pay as much attention to the cake as I would have liked because I was busy cutting up cake for toddlers and taking pictures of the birthday boy and generally be fantastic, as one does.

So can I say it was so moist I would die and recount to you its every texture? No. I can tell you that it doesn't taste too carrot-y, nor does it taste very pineapple-y at all. I can tell you that I guess it's pretty subtle, and that Jenni's cream cheese frosting really is nice (the secret is to whip the shit out of it, FYI), and that I am sure I am going to have to make this for Josh on every special occasion until I die. Josh would tell you that you have to try it. Right. Now.

Not only did I not screw this up, I managed to not screw it up while
being peppered with questions by a 3-year-old assistant. Score.

Jenni's All-Time Josh's Favorite Pineapple-Carrot Cake

A
2 cups raw carrots, grated
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 cup oil (canola)
3 eggs
1 small can crushed pineapple w/ juice (or what you estimate to be the amount equal to a small can of crushed pineapple w/ juice from this large can of crushed pineapple w/ juice)
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour

B
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon

Give carrots to Josh and Stu to grate in the living room over sports on TV. Find most ingredients easily, but search around in quiet desperation for the final few, ultimately breaking down and enlisting help. Ah, cooking in someone else's kitchen.

Blend A together, mix in B. Pour in bundt pan* or two layer cake pans.* Bake @ 350 degrees, 'til toothpick comes out clean. For layer cake pans, approx 35 minutes.

Jenni says: I've never made it in a bundt pan, but recipe says 1 1/2 hours.

Heather says: I made it in a bundt pan. It took about 1 hour. Hooray for checking early.

Icing

1 3/4 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1 1/2 3 oz or 4 oz bars of cream cheese, softened (i.e. ~ 6 ozs cream cheese)
1/4 margarine
1 tsp vanilla

Request help from your 3-year-old assistant, who informs you that she will help you put the things into the bowl once you've measured them. Which is good, as that was your plan. Notice that 3-year-old assistant prefers to do her cooking topless. Be glad this is not the rule of the kitchen for everyone.

Answer lots of questions, such as 'Why does the cream cheese have to be soft?' and 'Why is Uncle Josh nervous about the frosting?', while hoping you don't screw up the measurements. Blend well, first with you and Bryn stirring with wooden spoons ('Wooden spoons are silly,') and then turning the blender to high and blending the living shit out of it. 'Blend until it is very light and airy and whipped!' pronounces the supervising, nervously pacing Josh.

Wait until the cake is thoroughly cooled, as you learned while making Rachel's Chocolate Cake, then enlist your 3-year-old assistant's rather good help, it must be said, in frosting said cake. Serve to Josh for his birthday treat. Watch him be very happy.

* Greased and floured - ultimately so well by Ginny that the cake veritably slides out when the time comes. YES.