TasteSpotting Challenge..

My very dear friend Asma is now living in Canada , 100,000,000,00 miles away from me.. we both share the love of baking and cooking in general. She called me one day asking if we can have a challenge that can go between the two of us every week so we can support each other and be in touch all the time..

Our challenge is to randomly pick a number from Tastespotting.com .. then make that recipe in A WEEK time. we'd post photos on our blogs..share experiences , discuss methods and mostly have fun and learn learn learn :)

so for the first challenge.. I chose RANDOMLY ( knowing that tastespotting is at number 6xxxx . I chose 63202

which happens to be Modest Carrot Cake by Running With Tweezers .

Modest Carrot Cake -

makes between 6 and 8 generous servings - recipe originally from Chocolate: A Love Story by Max Brenner

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup good quality wildflower honey
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 cups all purpose flower
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups freshly grated carrots (about 8 carrots)
1/2 cup chopped California dates
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger
6 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks (i used Scharffen Berger)

- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and honey until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the milk and orange juice.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in the carrots, dates, ginger and chocolate until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and rap the pan a few times against the counter to knock out any air bubbles. Bake until the crust is a light golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool on a rack. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Ok Asma.. Show us what You got :)

via Running With Tweezers