All posts tagged carrot cake

Lila’s Fourth Birthday

Another year has gone by and my baby is now 4. This past year, I think the best word to describe her is stinker. Yes, she has always been trouble incarnate, but this year especially so. The terrible twos are nothing compared to the terrible threes!

So this year she chose butterflies for her birthday theme. She wanted a butterfly cake and butterfly gifts. That gave me a rather broad spectrum to work with, but I managed to get some things that she loved.

The day before her birthday, we took these butterfly cupcakes to her school so she could share them with her classmates in the summer camp.

The body is chocolate gems, the wings are mini-cookies, and the antennae are fruit rolls cut into tiny strips.

Then on her birthday, I made this butterfly cake. I used my carrot cake recipe, swapping half the carrots for zucchini, and using cheese in the frosting instead of it all being icing sugar. It tasted quite nice, but I want to experiment with it and find a way to eliminate the icing sugar and make it with honey instead.

In the afternoon we went to a fun play place, Bunny Bounce Funland. They had an inflatable bouncy house with a slide, a play area with a ball pit, trampoline, small swing and various other jungle gym toys. There were also a few arcade games and mini basketball/bowling games, air hockey, etc. that you could get tickets from to cash in for various items.

The kids had a load of fun, and Glad passed the time playing some arcade game. We had planned on staying 1/2 an hour, but ended up staying 1 1/2 hours. None of them wanted to leave even though it was past their dinner time.

At home we cut the cake and they decided that on birthdays, dinner should just be cake. 🙂 All the more reason for me to make it healthy.

Then came the gifts. Lila had already gotten some before – a bubble blower set from daddy and an outing with me to a shop she had repeatedly requested to go in. It was one of those small costume jewelry/makeup/hair stuff places. She picked out a large pink hair clip, a set of clips and elastic’s with strawberries on them, and pink nail polish. In her words, “I have to have nail polish, Mommy, because I’m big now.” Ha.

The ones she opened were a Winnie the Pooh puzzle set, matching earrings and necklace set, faux gold butterfly earrings, a shirt with butterflies on it, and a mini purse that contained “makeup”: some chapstick and sparkly pink pressed powder.

She has wanted to play with makeup for some time, and once climbed way up to the high shelf in the bathroom where I keep my makeup (to keep her out of it) and took my bag down. When I found her, she had eye-shadow all over and black waterproof mascara on her face, lips, and legs. What a cleanup job! So I figured it was best to get her something she could safely play with.

She had a fun day overall. She is already talking about what she wants to do on her 5th birthday. Slow down, girl, and enjoy being four.

1 Comment

by Mercy Langille on May 4, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in family fun, food, me

Tagged baking, birthdays, cake, carrot cake, growing up, Lila, my kids, outings, photos

Posted by Mercy Langille on May 4, 2013

https://dayslifedreams.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/lilas-fourth-birthday/

Moist Carrot Cake

Here is a new recipe for you, adapted from one I found I know not where. The original called for a full cup of oil and 2 cups of sugar, and while is was good, it was also oily and too sweet. I wanted something healthier since in our house we are striving to eat as clean and healthy as possible, so I experimented and changed the recipe around a bit. I reduced the sugar to one cup, and the oil to 1/3 of a cup. The remaining liquid comes from yogurt. I also use brown sugar (when I can get it) and whole wheat flour.

Because it is so healthy, I often serve it for breakfast or lunch once a week. It goes great with coffee, or served with yogurt and fresh fruit. My kids love it like that.

I’ve learned from cooking shows that one of the secrets to light moist cakes is to not over-beat the eggs or the batter, to sift the flour to add air, and to gently stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed. Try this and you will find your cakes will be lighter. This particular one comes out very light and airy when these tips are followed.

So here is the recipe.

Just out of the oven.

Begin by finely grating 3 cups of carrots. Do a little extra so you can pack the cups, about 4 medium-sized carrots. Set aside.

Then mix together:

4 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup plain yogurt

1 cup brown sugar

Mix together (don’t beat) until all ingredients are just combined. Add the carrots and stir.

(Optional: You could substitute half the carrots for grated zucchini. Raisins make a nice addition too.)

Next, sift together on top of the wet ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix gently with the wet ingredients until the flour is just mixed.

Pour into a pre-greased and floured 8×8″ pan and bake in a 350F oven for 40 – 45 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

This recipe also makes great muffins. Just reduce the baking time to about 10 – 15 minutes.

Yummy! Especially with my morning coffee.

This post is being linked with Spatulas on Parade‘s Foodie Friends Friday linkup.

My Birthday – by Logan

I thought that for my birthday I would take you through my life in this past year. So let’s get started.

Here I am in the hospital. Is that really me?? I was so scrawny. Even the newborn diapers didn’t fit me properly.

But by the time I was 2 months old I had filled out nicely.

Look at that. I could hold my toy at 3 months.

At 4 months I went on my first vacation. I look like such a beach bum, don’t I?

I got my walker at 5 months and started using it, though I couldn’t touch the floor at that time.

By 6 months I was stealing the girls hearts away. Can’t you see why?

By 7 months I learned that play with daddy can be fun.

By 8 months I could sit in the bath and splash on my own. I loved it.

At 9 months I tried to drive a car. Don’t believe me? Check out the photo below. Mommy caught me heading out by myself. She said I am not allowed to drive until I am tall enough to reach the pedals and I have my license. I hope that will be soon.

At 10 months I took my first train ride with mommy and daddy from Mangalore to Chennai, a 16 hour trip.

At 11 months I could kneel on my own. And I had finally gotten this crawling business down. It’s harder than it looks.

And here I am at 12 months. I’ve got my own bed, can hold my own bottle, and I love this cozy corner.

And I suppose you are wondering what I did for my birthday? Well, mommy organized a small party for some of my friends and she made me a cake. The party theme was “Down on the Farm”. I looked like a farmer in my overalls and we played animal games like pin the tail on the donkey, matching mommy and baby animals, horse races (daddy had to be a horse), and we colored animal pictures.