carrot pulp cake

most of you know that we're big fresh juicers over here.

(we have this Breville juicer and it's the bomb.)

carrot apple celery is the boys' favorite

although i've snuck in spinach, kale, and various other veggies too and they didn't seem to mind.

we go through pounds and pounds of carrots to make enough for the three of us!

when we have our garden readily accessible it makes for great compost,

but usually it just gets dumped in the trash.

my mom came over while i was juicing one day and suggested we make carrot pulp cake.

whaa???

sounds gross, but it is delicious. cross my heart!

my dad, the connoisseur of all desserts said it was the best carrot cake he's ever had.

it is delicious on it's own, it is supremely moist, but put that cream cheese frosting on it

and it's heaven.

this site has awesome ideas for more pulp uses!

cake
4 eggs 
 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil 
 2 cups white sugar 
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 2 cups all-purpose flour 
 2 teaspoons baking soda 
 2 teaspoons baking powder 
 1/2 teaspoon salt 
 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (we added 3+ tsps. and it had a mild spice cake flavor. you could definitely add all spice and nutmeg to take it all the way there.)
 2 cups grated carrots  
 1 cup of carrot pulp
(i had already juiced all my carrots, so i just added 3 cups of carrot pulp and 1/2 a cup of carrot juice.)

frosting 
 1/2 cup butter, 
softened 8 ounces cream cheese, 
softened 4 cups confectioners' sugar 
 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake. 

It suggested pecans, which i am definitely trying next time!

Hayes helped me with the cake and ate his fair share in frosting so when the cake was ready he was pumped to get his piece. until a little bit of carrot cake was touching his bite of frosting,  at which point he lost it.

sob sob "no yike orange cake! no touch white fah-sing!" sob sob sob.

didn't know you felt so strongly son!

he quickly learned that fingers are much more precise tools.

happy weekend everyone!

i'm running the Dirty Dash this weekend after which we'll be starting the move back to our house.

we split it into two weekends because it's only 10 minutes away, i'm hoping it proves to be a smart idea! oof, moving. 

 insert cringe face, shivers up spine, and simultaneous head-desk.