Ina Garten a.k.a the Barefoot Contessa is one of my favorite Food Network hosts. I love her style of cooking and baking, the way she shops for fresh, local ingredients, and her elegant presentation. I’ve even tried to convince Dustin that we NEED a summer home in the Hamptons. He said we should probably have a year-round home first. Sigh. Him and his logic.
Whenever I’m searching for a recipe, if one of Ina’s pops up in the first results, I almost always choose to go with her recipe. So yesterday, when I got a hankering for a carrot cake with pineapple in it, I found her recipe rather quickly in my Google search. To be fair, it was the first result, haha.
Why with pineapple? Because I’ve had it before and it’s amazing!
My mom is a much better baker than I am, so I requested that she make it. She was happy to oblige. I like to bake, but I’m also lazy and impatient. I would much rather throw savory foods into a pot without hesitation than meticulously measure a pinch of this and a teaspoon of that. The baking bug bites me once, maybe twice a month at the most, but if possible, I’ll choose mom’s skilled hands over mine in the batter.
Changes we made:
- Instead of vegetable oil, we used Spectrum organic vegetable (palm) shortening
- Omitted the walnuts (I don’t care for nuts in cake!)
Three words: Dense, doughy, and delicious!
That’s quite a large piece seen above; I had just 4 bites of it and that was enough to quench my lust for my this sweet, sweet treat. It makes an enormous cake, which I am not sure what to do with. Dustin doesn’t like raisins (or cake for that matter) and my mom likes cakes with nuts. My cousin, Tricia, LOVES carrot cake without nuts, just like I do, so maybe I’ll have to give her a LARGE piece if I see her in the near future!! I’ll have to send her a link to this post to entice her, haha. 
It is CHILLY out today. Baking season has officially begun. Wooooo!
I have some kitchen organizing to do and dinner to make. It’s supposed to be 43 degrees tonight. Love it. And I love the hearty pasta and veggies I’m about to make. Yum, yum. Be back later-later. 
Ina Garten a.k.a the Barefoot Contessa is one of my favorite Food Network hosts. I love her style of cooking and baking, the way she shops for fresh, local ingredients, and her elegant presentation. I’ve even tried to convince Dustin that we NEED a summer home in the Hamptons. He said we should probably have a year-round home first. Sigh. Him and his logic.
Why with pineapple? Because I’ve had it before and it’s amazing!
My mom is a much better baker than I am, so I requested that she make it. She was happy to oblige. I like to bake, but I’m also lazy and impatient. I would much rather throw savory foods into a pot without hesitation than meticulously measure a pinch of this and a teaspoon of that. The baking bug bites me once, maybe twice a month at the most, but if possible, I’ll choose mom’s skilled hands over mine in the batter.
Changes we made:
Three words: Dense, doughy, and delicious!
That’s quite a large piece seen above; I had just 4 bites of it and that was enough to quench my lust for my this sweet, sweet treat. It makes an enormous cake, which I am not sure what to do with. Dustin doesn’t like raisins (or cake for that matter) and my mom likes cakes with nuts. My cousin, Tricia, LOVES carrot cake without nuts, just like I do, so maybe I’ll have to give her a LARGE piece if I see her in the near future!! I’ll have to send her a link to this post to entice her, haha.
It is CHILLY out today. Baking season has officially begun. Wooooo!
I have some kitchen organizing to do and dinner to make. It’s supposed to be 43 degrees tonight. Love it. And I love the hearty pasta and veggies I’m about to make. Yum, yum. Be back later-later.