Enough already. It’s time for me to share a recipe. I’ve been eating like a queen and this is the fairest thing for me to do. Everyone here on the farm is talented in the kitchen, without a doubt. Working day in and day out planting, cultivating and harvesting the vegetables imparts great appreciation for each zucchini cut and each beet tugged from the earth; one cannot help but to be inspired to cook well while picking basil tops or snipping lacy bits of dill out of the herb garden. Soon, I hope to put up recipes for Linda’s dill roasted potatoes and goat-cheese and herb-stuffed beets…

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In the meantime, though, a recipe of my own. I patched it together from a few sources and baked it for Cameron’s 23rd birthday party which was here at the farm on Sunday evening. Everyone here is so supportive of my obsession with baking and they taste my desserts at any and all times! I’d never used mandarin oranges in a cake before, but Linda suggested it, and boy, was she right! The cake was delicious. Maybe it was the oranges, maybe it was the carrots which were freshly-harvested, maybe it was the touch of maple in the frosting, or maybe it was just the company and the beautiful evening that we had for celebrating.

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Farm Fresh Carrot Cake

Cake
2 ⅓ C whole wheat pastry flour, sifted then measured
1 C unsweetened coconut flakes
1 C walnuts, chopped
¾ C crystallized ginger, chopped
3 ½ t cinnamon
2 ½ t baking powder
1 t salt
½ t baking soda
2 C sugar
1 C vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
2 C grated carrots
1 - 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 - 8 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained
½ C raisins

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
2 - 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
½ C butter, melted
2 C powdered sugar
½ C maple syrup
½ t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter two 9” cake pans.

In a food processor, process ⅓ cup flour with the coconut, walnuts and ginger. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside. In a large bowl, blend together the sugar and the oil. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture one by one, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well (if using your hand and not an electric mixer, make sure to just whisk it all up really well for a minute or so, thus incorporating air and lending to a fluffier cake!). Next, add in the flour and spice mixture and blend it all up until all the flour is moistened. Next, add in the coconut mixture and mix it all together well. Stir in the pineapple, raisins and mandarin oranges. I’d say mix again, but you get the point. Just make sure it’s well mixed!

Pour the batter equally into the prepared pans and bake about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in their centers comes out clean. To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and cream cheese. Sift in the powdered sugar and add the maple syrup and vanilla. Mix well. The longer your mix, the fluffier the frosting will be. If you desire, add more powdered sugar.

Since I baked my cake in two 9” cake pans, I layered the cake with a thin coating of frosting in-between the two layers. I frosted only the top of the top layer of the cake and decorated it with walnuts and piped carrots (which I made from extra frosting mixed with a bit of strawberry jam and turmeric to get the orange color). I then took tiny mint leaves and used those as the carrot tops, but be creative! There is a lot of other greenery in the garden or on the farm that will do.

Mmm!

I've posted more pictures, by the way...