Friday, March 27, 2020

Carrot Cake from Maddie Day, plus #Giveaway

Maddie Day here. I don't know about you, but I've been doing a lot of stress baking. And how can you go wrong with a yummy rich carrot cake? I adapted this recipe from the Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. And I'll send one commenter an ARC of Nacho Average Murder, coming out in June! 




Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cake Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground mace
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 sticks softened butter
4 local eggs
3 cups finely grated peeled carrots (almost a pound, about 6-8 medium carrots)
2 teaspoons finely minced lemon zest
Butter and flour for greasing


Frosting Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese
6 tablespoons softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-2 ½ cups powdered sugar


Directions:
Grate carrots and set aside. Grease two standard cake pans and dust with flour.


In a mixer, beat sugar and oil, then beat in eggs one at a time.


In a large measuring cup, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt, and spices.
Stir in dry ingredients and carrots and beat.


Pour batter into prepared pans and tap on counter to release any air bubbles.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for fifteen minutes. 


Invert and remove from pan onto rack. Let cool completely.

Combine frosting ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy. Frost top of one cake layer then set second on top. 




Frost top and sides. 



Enjoy a piece!



My next book is Murder at the Taffy Shop, which comes out March 31 in an exclusive paperback deal from Barnes & Noble and is the second Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery. 



I hope you'll visit my alter-ego Edith Maxwell and me on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha-nominated and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

47 comments:

  1. Great covers. Looks delish! Thanks for the chance.

    positive DOT ideas DOT 4you AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have actually been craving salt water taffy and can’t find it at the stores :-(

    But that carrot cake looks yummy, maybe that’ll kill my craving.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I’ll be making this carrot cake! Thanks for the chance! booksnpugs (at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOVE carrot cake! Thank you for your recipe which sounds heavenly. I love the addition of the lemon zest and will have to give this recipe a try for sure.

    Oh! I would love the opportunity to read "Nacho Average Murder"! I look forward to each of your books as soon as you start talking about them. Thank you for the chance to win an ARC! <3
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome today. Ohhh what a wonderful recipe. Thanks for sharing. Years ago I worked as a cashier/hostess at Bakers Square. And once the cakes or pies were on there third day, they got thrown away. Well, goodness, they were still good. So I asked if I could bring one home on one of those days. At first they didnt want me to do that. But the manager gave in. So every third day I would bring something home. I had two teenagers at the time so it was good. Oh and my husband has always had a sweet tooth. Many times we had carrot cake for dinner. LOL It has all the necessary ingredients, right? I worked there for three years. Surprising none of us got fat. LOL I love the book cover. Makes me want to go and visit. And the story sounds just wonderful.
    Just signed up for your newsletter. Cant wait.
    quilting lady 2 at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete
  6. It looks so good! I don't think I have ever seen the addition of lemon zest in a carrot cake. I'm sure it's wonderful. Stay well!
    magicgirl2357@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love carrot cake and will have to try this recipe. The icing looks delicious.
    Congrats on your new release!
    browninggloria(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for sharing your carrot cake recipe with us - I love cream cheese frosting so much that I might double that part of the recipe! Take care! bobandcelia@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd love to have a piece of that cake right now. It looks yummy. Though cream cheese icing on anything is fine with me, it's best on carrot cake.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yummy! I LOVE carrot cake but my family hates it so I get the whole cake for myself when I make it! Cannot wait to read Nacho Average Murder. It’s one of my favorite series!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This cake looks amazing! I can't even think about making it while I'm living alone as I would eat it all up, but saving the recipe for company!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Carrot cake is my husband's favorite, so I think I'll make this for his birthday in June. Thanks for the chance to win.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am eyeing your carrot cake with great jealousy, I sadly had not stocked up on butter before there was a bit of a run on the store and have not been shopping for a bit. However, and funnily, I have the fixings for a great Nachos dinner. Thanks for the inspiration! And I will keep the carrot cake recipe for another time. Appreciate you sharing the recipe.
    little lamb lst at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Marcia stuelpnagelMarch 27, 2020 at 1:37 PM

    My favorite cake. I use to live on the oregon coast and buy salt water taffy all the time my favorite was mint and bubblegum

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love carrot cake! Sounds like a great recipe. Looking forward to reading both of your new releases.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  16. If I baked a cake,I'd probably eat half of it myself. I would love some salt water taffy though. @kathyclugston3@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. This sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I recently started this series and love it so far! Thank you for the chance to win.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This recipe looks yummy. I can't to try it, especially if I can reading a won book while I do so!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks good!! Thanks for the chance to win! I love this series!!! mcastor07 (at) gmail (dot) com.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Looks yummy. My grandma used to make a carrot cake like that. I don't have the recipe so I'll try this one.
    I'm excited for the new book!
    kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'll have to make this for my mother as she loves carrot cake. I especially like the addition of the lemon zest. I've not seen this before. Thank you for the chance! aut1063(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love carrot cake - thanks for the recipe!

    jtcgc at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for the recipe and giveaway. doward1952(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  24. oh yummy..............thanks for the giveaway...........lunalola5151@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. That carrot cake looks yummy.

    kaye.killgore(at)comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and i love your books - thank you for being an author

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. trwilliams69(at)msn(dot)com

      Delete
  27. I haven't made a carrot cake in years. I think it's about time. This looks like a good recipe. Thanks. lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  28. Looks delicious I want to make it soon. Your book looks amazing I want to read it soon. Thank you for the giveaway and for writing books!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thank you for the recipe and the opportunity.
    lindalou64 (at)live (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  30. I've run a small cheesecake business that closed down last week, so I have nine pounds of cream cheese at home, so yeah, lets just say one more option of something to do with it is nice.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Salt Water Taffy always make me think of August vacations in Santa Cruz, CA! lindaherold999(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  32. Oh yum! No raisins! I’ll make this!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I love carrot cake and this recipe sounds great. I would probably sneak some icing samples before the cake was frosted too!
    marypopmom (at) yahoo (dot) com
    Maryann

    ReplyDelete
  34. Love carrot cake. Sounds like a good recipe. rgp1950@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  35. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I loved Murder on Cape Cod! I would love to read a story about a murder at Salty Taffy's!
    Lisacobblestone@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  37. Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe Maddie!
    I absolutely love the Victory Garden and have been search second hand stores for a cook book.
    Just thrilled to have this recipe!
    You made my day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandra, random.org picked you as winner! Congratulations, and please check your email.

      Delete
  38. For me, you can never go wrong with carrot cake! Yum. Love the cover of your book! Thanks.. stay safe everyone! nani_geplcs@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  39. Love carrot cake, but never tried it from scratch. Thanks for the recipe!
    Dm_richards (at) yahoo (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  40. Sandra Shenton is our winner. Congratulations, Sandra, and please check your email. Thanks to you all for your comments!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I am beyond excited!!!!
    Thank you so much!
    Sandra

    ReplyDelete
  42. There are a couple of these exclusive deals. I don’t do Barnes either. I guess they are trying to lure people from Amazon. I enjoyed that series so I hope it will eventually show up other places. I also really like mace. I put it in my pound cake. I had not thought about it in carrot cake. I’ll have to try it. I might also put a little lemon zest in the ibuprofen g just because my tasters are lemon fans. suefoster109 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete