First Attempt at Carrot Cake! (Recipe)

One of the things I like about holidays is that I have a lot of extra time to cook. I don’t like being rushed when I cook, and I don’t really like the idea of cooking just for the sake of having something to put in my mouth. (You know how some think that when you’re cooking for yourself only, you don’t really need to care that much about its taste and presentation? I can’t buy that.) Anyway, cooking during the busy days of the semester is rare for me unless I’m doing it together with a friend, so having the time this week to actually cook and bake stuff feels so good.

This week I wanted to make banana bread, but couldn’t find the most important ingredient : banana, since most places are closed due to Chinese New Year celebration. I figured since I had carrots in the dorm’s fridge, it might be interesting to try out making carrot cake. I went through recipes on the internet, and finally adapted one from here.

Here’s how I did it (with measurements already converted to grams, to make it easier for everybody) :

170 ml vegetable oil
200 grams brown sugar
2 eggs
240 grams flour
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (You may prefer to swap this with cinammon. I didn’t have any, so I used vanilla)
1 big carrot, grated

I mixed the oil and the sugar first until they blended. I added the eggs one by one, each time beating the mixture ’til blended well. Afterwards, I slowly added the flour, which had been mixed with baking powder, salt and vanilla extract.
After the dough is nicely mixed together, I stirred in the grated carrots.

Baking took around 20-30 minutes for me. I used a 7-3/8 x 3-5/8 x 2 inch pan, so you might want to double or triple the amount of ingredients according to the size of the cake you want to make.

I love this recipe. I love that the cake has carrot in it but still tastes really good. The friends who tasted it also told me they liked it.

Will definitely make this again, probably with cinammon and the addition of chopped nuts.

- cheers to all -

Weekend Baking : Blondies Turned Caramel Cake

A few weeks ago I had tried out this banana bread recipe (which I failed, by the way, ’cause I used a little too much oil and no baking soda, turning it into a super gooey sort-of brownie instead of bread). Anyway, I still had a lot of brown sugar and I desperately needed time cooking by myself. It distracts me from how messed up my thoughts have been lately, and then gives me yummy food to indulge in afterwards.

I went through a lot of recipes on Pinterest and Tumblr, and found this old post from Julie. It didn’t require me looking for a whole lot of other ingredients, so I decided to try it out.

Things I am Grateful For This Vacation

Of course there are more than this.

I managed to still do my work.
Let’s be honest, here. It’s not easy to work from home when you haven’t been home for a year! Fortunately, I was able to finish due work, AND spend quality time with my loved ones.

I didn’t get sick…
until the day I had to go back to Taiwan. LOL. I don’t think it’s because I had to go back, though. I love Taiwan. At some point, your body just needs rest. And the point happened to me just a day before I had to get on the plane to Taiwan.

They Only Have an Oven

There’s always a reason not to start or do something. I don’t know if it could be considered a talent, but if it could, then I am talented in coming up with this sort of reasons and sticking with it.

I haven’t blogged in two weeks, because I haven’t got any inspiration to write a new article. I didn’t move my butt from my working chair to the swimming pool yesterday, because I’d planned to go at 4.30, but it was already 5 (yes, there are such reasons).

Back when I lived with my grandparents, I had a lot of reasons on why I didn’t often cook.