Carrot and Pecan Cake- Again?



Carrot and pecan cake with cream cheese frosting, topped with roasted pecans and sugar flowers

 

My sister brought this to her neighbour's house

 I say that it must be a baking madness this weekend, as I have baked three cakes in a row. A carrot and pecan cake, a banana bread and then back to carrot and pecan again. Family and friends seemed to like this carrot cake again and again. Not only that, they specifically asked for this particular cake.

    I baked this cake as requested by my elder sister- she wanted to give this to her neighbour. Again, it was a last-minute order, and being me the ever obliged sister, decided to bake this at 4.00 am on Saturday. Yes, rushing again as I had an obligation at 9.00 a.m, the same morning. The neighbour's party was supposedly to  start at 3.00 p.m. So, you could imagine my rushing here and there. What with the baking part, the cooling process and the frosting part. All to be done by 9.00 a.m.

On top of that, I went and bake this banana bread ( the third time successful attempt- that I have mentioned in the earlier post). I was just crazy to do a two- time baking spree. Well, sometimes when we have that baking bug, we could not even stop for a moment. We just need to bake and bake. What took me long was that, I underestimated the  baking time for the banana bread. The middle of the bread was liquidy a bit, so off it went into the oven again. Perhaps the temperature was a bit too low for the bread.



Can't get enough of this- Banana Bread



Back to this carrot and pecan cake, my sister was happy as I finally managed to bake the cake that she liked most. At first, I forgot that I had promised her earlier on and I thought that the party would be next week. Luckily, she called me on Friday evening and reminded me on the promise. Well, I thought I could go nuts at that time. Well, short-term memory syndrome must have got into me. Finally, I managed to bake the cake as requested and happily went to my meeting armed with a banana bread.



I went mild this time- just to keep it simple...

A crazy baking weekend? Yes, it definitely was, but I was happy as well. Happy days ahead, everyone!

Banana Bread @ Cake




This is a best-seller's banana bread @cake

 


Actually, this was the second time I baked this banana bread







The latest batch- a third time successful attempt of baking my own recipe of banana bread .
It was a melt -in- the mouth banana sensation, topped with roasted pecan nuts.
 Baking this is definitely heaven.



 

I have attempted to create my own recipe, having left the challenges of creation madness lying rusty in the cupboards of my mind. To tell you the truth, my son had been pestering me to bake this, as I had promised him many times to bake  a banana cake or loaf or bread ( what ever we would say it). The cake was  a hit for everybody, from a six year old boy up until adults. I must have hit the right notes this time. The secret was using over ripen bananas, sour cream and milk fused with a tinge of lemon juice.. For all the experiments, I have used "Pisang Mas" which are easily available in Malaysia... loosely translated as "Golden Bananas". This type of bananas are small in size and they are very sweet. Apparently, it was a trial and error experiment relying on the instincts of a self-taught baker, and finally I got it right. Just the way it should be. For the time being, let me entertain you with the pictures of this baking sensation until I got the time to fine tune the recipe and post it here. Enjoy the pictures....




Life is definitely on bananas.... ;)

 

Life's good? Yes, it is- especially with bananas around....

Carrot and Pecan Cake



I guess, we could never go wrong with carrot and pecan cake

  



Thank You, Boss! You'll be missed ..
. Carrot and pecan cake frosted with cream cheese and unsalted butter,
topped with chopped roasted pecan nuts and sugar flowers and mini carrots...

     

I baked this  Carrot and Pecan cake as a favour, as a thank you gift for a boss who is moving. I have used this recipe (click this)Walnut and Carrot Recipe  but replace it with pecans as I ran out of walnuts. Apparently, I did not know that my boss was going away for a job promotion- but since my friend, S was asking another friend, F to bake a carrot cake, I got to know. To cut the story short, F could not bake the cake. So, I told S that I would do it as a thank you gift to the boss. Apparently, S was not asking me earlier as she thought it would be a chore for me, as I did not feel well quite lately. I told her that baking was a cure to my stress. And voila the cake was delivered on last Friday afternoon, just before the party began.

   The story behind this cake- I got to know about the party on Thursday- a day before the party. I wanted to bake this cake on Thursday afternoon but was too tired to come around. So, I woke up early in the morning at 4.00 just to discover that I should have prepared the ingredients earlier on. It was tough as I only started to grate the carrots and roasted the pecans early in the morning. Luckily by 5.45 am the cake was ready. Thinking that I should get ready for work, I decided to frost the cake in the afternoon just after work. Since it was Friday, I was even blessed that I could rush from work after 12.30 p.m. Arriving home at 1.00 p.m., I found myself with a gigantic task of decorating a cake as I needed to go out from the house by 2.00 p.m. So, I only have an hour to spare. All frosting and decoration were done from scratch - from the mixing of icing sugar and cream cheese and unsalted butter until the decorating of the cake. Thank goodness for store bought sugar flowers and mini carrots. They always come in handy for my last minute baking madness. Well, I went shabby chic this time for the decoration ;). Not just because I ran out of time, I just loved the home-made feel of cake decorations.

 People say it's always difficult to say good bye, especially to those who are dear to us. So, even if it is difficult, we could only hope the best for those who are moving to greener pastures. To my boss or accurately ex-boss, "You are one fine  example of a people's person and you are sure to be missed dearly". Well, it was nice to think that at the end of the party, there were happy people around as they got to taste the carrot and pecan cake. Until then, have a marvellous Sunday every one....