What's more American than......

A good ol' Carrot Cake?

It's the 4th of July and we're heading out to another side of Maryland for a potluck/bbq shindig with some friends and their families. (For real.., it's my friend's husband's mother's house that we're going to.) The carrot cake was a big hit at Christmas- same folks were together celebrating Jesus' birthday, so I figured this was a safe bet to bring. It was either that or some fried cream cheese wontons that would have been soggy by the time we arrived. Couldn't represent like dat!

Onto the cake.. that has required not one, but two trips to the store this lovely morning. Trip 1,

Carrots-- check

Sugar-- check

Cans of cream cheese frosting- ick.. but CHECK (I'm not a fan of pre-made frosting. It's too sweet and just weird and full of CRAP that we do not need in our bodies, but that's for another blog..)

And what was required for the 2nd trip? Baking powder.. ugh, the baking powder. An ingredient that could ruin any number of baked goods if not used. I couldn't risk it, so I'm sending the hubby out to the store.

So why is my carrot cake so American? It contains ingredients from all 50 states! Okay, maybe not Alaska, but can we count the whitish colored frosting as snow? LOL Here comes the list of ingredients:

Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Eggs, Oil, Carrots, Nuts, Pineapple, Saigon Cinnamon, Allspice Powder. And I did throw in an infamous zucchini from my backyard garden.

Believe it or not, I sifted the dry ingredients together. All the carrots and the zucchini were peeled/grated by hand. My food processor bit the dust 2 months ago. The nuts are from a can of Planter's Nutrition Energy mix. I had to pick the nuts out, rinse off the sweet/salty stuff, and roast 'em in a pan for a bit. Talk about a labor of love....

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Onto frosting.. I hate hate hate pre-made canned frosting. But when they're 2 for $3 vs. $3 for cream cheese + $2 for powdered sugar + $2 for butter + $1 for cream... yeah.. the canned stuff won.

But, I can't leave well enough alone. I have to doctor up the canned stuff to make it less sweet and less pre-made tasting. Just whip some air into it and a dash of saigon cinnamon. ;)

WARNING: I SUCK AT FROSTING/DECORATING CAKES. But I did get a few oohs and aahs and the party for the cute factor of this cake. But the taste is what really sets this cake off. One try, even if you don't like carrot cake, and you'll be hooked!!

And YES- those are real little carrots on top. I've been growing baby-type carrots in my backyard and these are two that I plucked, washed, and peeled to adorn the cake.

**for the actual recipe, send me a comment.