My 40+ year old carrot cake recipe~And Paddington~And Marie's tarts~

My 40 + year old carrot cake recipe...

Has ended up..wearing so many party dresses..

Birthdays..Christenings..Easter..Birthdays..Weddings..

Valentine's Day..

And combined Valentines'/ Birthdays~

Yesterday...on the 14th..we celebrated Valentine's Day and our youngest daughter's birthday combined..

I volunteered dessert..s.....

I picked carrot cake ..because it had been so long since the last one was enjoyed..

The children ..hearing carrot cake..would turn away I feared..as I had as a teen..

But you just have to have one bite..and you are hooked ..In fact..the icing is so good..my husband scraped away the buttercream on the sponge cake and replaced it w/ the cream cheese icing:)

It's not easy on a sun filled day to take a white icing..beigeish actually ..iced cake photo..

I seem to be always complaining in winter about the light..too dark..too grey//too sunny..too bright..for photos..

But I did want to show you that you can dress this carrot cake up to suit any occasion..

I put roses on top..and plain around..simply because I doubled the icing..yet had only enough for what you see.

I would have liked to go around the sides w/ roses..but my cream cheese frosting is not thick like buttercream..

So ..it was ok..that I did not have enough icing  to go around..

For the 6 "littles"  well 4 "littles"  and  2 bigger kids..

I made Paddington cupcakes..

As per an agreement w/ Living Locurto..just go to her site here  ..for the how tos:)

Terry made some also..we were both inspired for our "littles"..

I  actually used a Duncan Hines mix for the cupcakes and Betty Crocker for the icing..

So truthfully Duncan and Betty were a huge help.

I must admit I am useless w/ mixes..and am surprised I finally got them done..

In the bloopers were some underdone cupcakes..and some burst icing bags..

However ..finally..all was well~

And thank you Living Locurto for such a cute cute idea.

I also kind of  stole..borrowed..

the word Littles..my girls had Littles as wee girls.. but I had not heard that expression in ages..until I read..We Were Liars~

And it stuck with me..enough to borrow it..in speaking..writing about the wee..er folk in our family..

As for those delightful little tarts..Marie made hers in a patty pan..I don't have one..it seems it is more of a British baking pan..I did have a muffin top( not unllike how I felt last night..) pan..

And made her tarts in there..I halved the recipe and it made 4 large ones..all the other desserts were going to stay at the hosts..so I thought I would make Jacques these.

Now..I Love them..more than cakes.. and cupcakes..Not too sweet..almond..raspberry jam..and Ricardo's shortcust pastry..

I used the sour cream addition.

The only difference to Marie's recipe I made was to add almond extract to the mixture .

Little Noah..had a wonderful Valentines..Through the house..his mom had placed clues regarding hi gift..there were many card like these..

This one says Cocou Noah..Happy Valentine's Day.I have a surprise for you..

We will leave in an airplane..

etc .. etc..

In 15 dodos..

She kept asking him to guess and finally he said:"Are we going to China?:)LOL..Don't know where that came from..So spring bread the French teacher and her Noah..will be electrifying Disney♥

We all had a great time..Alain is a musician as a hobby apart from others..and with his daughter they form a fabulous team..the living room was again set up as a music room w/ amps and mikes and guitars..So so fun to hear and watch..Lucas and Max are trying their hand at it too..so so cute,,I spiked their hair..Noah sang baby of Mine..All night..a live show:)  

La Recette for the carrot cake~

2 cups of flour

2tbsps baking powder

11/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

add 1 cup light oil,2 cups of sugar..

4 eggs,1 can drained crushed pineapple,2 cups grated carrots 1 cup of raisins(you can plump them if you wish). 1 cup chopped nuts..(walnuts)

Pour batter into 2 8" round molds..Bake at 375 for 10-15 mins

350 for 35-40 minutes.

Let cool..unmold and ice w/ your favorite cream cheese frosting~

If I go to bed after midnight..it's either a wedding or a party at my kids homes:)

And nothing magical happens to my car.

It is a real challenge leaving when it's so dark and so cold:)