Jared's 28th

Isla must have been to excited for Jared's birthday which we had been excitedly preparing for together for weeks now.  So she was up by 3:15 am but we pretended to keep sleeping till about 5am when she was finally allowed out of her bed and down to our room to smother Jared in birthday love.  We wiped the sleep out of our eyes and opened presents much earlier this morning than I care to admit.  After putting Isla back to bed at 7am we ate up some german pancakes (I grew up calling them dutch baby) with orange concentrate on top and joined Isla in some napping till 9am.  After lots of gardening I set out to make dinner and dessert.

Upon request we celebrated Jared's birthday with a full Irish meal; corned beef, red potatoes, steamed cabbage, soft Irish Soda Bread, and ginger beer.  We finished just in time for the LDS missionaries to show up at our door and share our birthday carrot cake together.  I think this is the first time I have ever made a cake alone and thanks to Anita's good recipes, I turned out three layers of deliciousness covered in whipped coconut cream cheese frosting.  I'll share the recipe with some of my minor adjustments.

Sam’s Famous Carrot Cake

3 eggs
¾ cup buttermilk
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups white sugar (I use less when doubling for a 3-layer cake)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ cup salt
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda

2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple (this time I pureed some fresh pineapple)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour an 9x13 inch pan. In a medium bowl stir together all the dry ingredients. Set aside. In mixer combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix well. In a medium bowl combine shredded carrots, coconut, pecans, and pineapple. Fold this mixture into the batter and mix well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour. Check with toothpick. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. ***To make three 9 inch layers 1½ times the recipe using 5 eggs and only 1 can of pineapple. Spray three 9 inch pans with cooking spray the line them with parchment paper circles then spray with cooking spray again. Pour batter into pans and shake a little to level the batter out. Bake for 35-38 minutes. Cool, then frost with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

1½ cups whipping cream

8 oz cream cheese
1¾ cup powdered sugar ( I haved this and it was the perfect sweetness)
⅛ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

more shredded or flaked coconut (maybe 1/2 cup?)

Beat cream until stiff. Set aside. In another bowl blend softened cream cheese, sugar, salt,and vanilla. Beat this until smooth then beat in coconut.  Fold in whipped cream. So good on Carrot Cake. ***1½ times this for the 3 layered birthday cake.