Food In The Fort

My dad put this frosting atop the “Surprise Carrot Cake” and it was the perfect complement. The original recipe below produces more icing than you’ll probably need unless you really like to spread it on thick (I do, when it comes to frosting, my dad, not so much). Dad also cut way down on the sugar (I have to agree that a pound of powdered sugar is pretty crazy). I’ve italicized his changes in parentheses after each ingredient.

Where Daddy dearest and I really disagree, though, is on the necessity of making frosting from scratch at all.  For my money, Betty Crocker and her friend Poppin’ Fresh do a splendid job for about $2.50 a canister and it beats the hell out of having four cups of confectioner’s sugar flying every which way. But I’m a lazy slacker who’s always looking for the quick ‘n’ easy way and Dad’s a true cook who actually sifts flour and performs other labor-intensive procedures.

In short, homemade’s better, but Betty’s fine in a time-crunch. I certainly enjoyed every bite of the carrot cake and cream cheese frosting and wished I had been there to lick the spoon! Read the rest of this entry »

 Okay, I’m not exactly sure what the surprise in this carrot cake is supposed to be. In my case, I guess I was just surprised that my dad had made a carrot cake… Surprised and very happy, to be sure. He has been going through kind of a cake phase: a flour-less, European-style chocolate cake, a very involved-sounding pound cake (The recipe for which will not be appearing on this girl’s blog. When he got to the second time you had to sift the dry ingredients, I knew it wasn’t for me!), and now this yummy carrot cake taken from the back of the Softasilk Cake Flour box. I’m not sure what’s up with the whole thing, but I’m not going to complain. Keep on bakin’, Daddy-o!

Here’s the low-down on the carrot cake which may or may not be surprising, but certainly is easy to assemble and very tasty to boot. You’ll want to top it with cream cheese frosting. Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

July is a pretty good time to get the hell out of Fort Wayne and seek out cooler, less *&%$ humid climes, and that’s just what me and the kiddies have done. We’re in NY; they’re down in the city with their dad and I’m upstate on the farm with my brother and the ‘rents. We’ll be meeting up tomorrow in the Big Apple and then it will be all about spoiling the grandkids: Macy’s fireworks, the Cloisters, a Broadway musical, shopping for Rachel and a restaurant that only serves variations on the cheese toastie for Jack. But until the kids steal the show, I’m enjoying some serious spoiling of my own: sushi last night, mussels and clams two nights before that, and a chocolate cake from Wegmans, the best supermarket on earth. It’s been good.

But I’m not one to keep all these good eats to myself. No, dear reader, although I’m not going to invite you come over for dinner,  I am going to send a few scrumptious recipes your way for a little taste of what life is like on the farm (where the only animal is my mom’s bratty dog Emily). Here’s what you can look for in the next week or so:

• “Surprise” Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Pork Fried Noodles direct from the heyday of Wo Hop
• The Perfect Pancake
• An interview with the brewmasters of Butternuts Beer and Ale

Hope to see y’all soon!