Smoked Carrot Cake

What a bummer.

I had such huge plans for my Saturday and when all was said and done...not so much.

I woke up at the crack of dawn, as usually. Read the online news and then set out to start making mini-carrot cake cupcakes for a birthday party. I had measured out the flour and grated the carrots when I realized I had no sugar, so I set everything aside and ran to the store. Returned 20 minutes later and resumed the mixing. Mixed everything together and piped the batter into the mini muffin pan, set the timer and placed it all in the oven. About 4 minutes in the fire alarm goes off in our building.

Took me a minute to break away from the kitchen and checked the hallway. There was a little smoke smell in the hall. Very faint. OK, moving. Woke J-lo up and prepared to leave, but I went back in the kitchen and sat there for a minute. I was seriously considering not leaving because I didn't want to remove the half baked cupcakes. Well my sixth sense got the better of me and I removed them from the oven and turn it off.

Headed into the hallway and out of the building.

The firefighters were arriving and running into the building. We got outside and sat there for a few minutes. One woman was crying really bad; if I new Spanish, I might have been able to understand what she was saying. We're sitting there and someone points up to the building. Oh! A little smoke coming out of a vent. OK, so there really is something going on! The last time the alarm went off it was a false alarm, so I sort of expected the same thing. A minute or two later, the smoke was heavier and coming out of a window! And it's the 5th Floor...>OUR FLOOR! Oh my! The smoke started to get thicker and darker. OK, this might be serious.

Shortly after some firefighters came out of the building and were quickly directed back into the building by the guy running the pump truck. I guess they couldn't find the apartment!!! They went back in. The pump trucks are pumping and look...here comes the DC fire, Riverdale fire, Hyattsville is there...hey it's Bladensburg fire!!! FOUR ALARM! SHIT!!!

I don't know who provided the hook and ladder truck, but there they were and raising the bucket up to the 5th floor. Then. The. Glass. Started. Shattering!!!!

At first that was a bit of a panic, but after a minute I realized that had to be a good thing...with the windows closed, there is no oxygen and the fire won't go crazy. If you an oxygen source, the the fire can be worse...so this had to mean the fire was out! But there was still so much smoke and firefighter commotion.

Over an hour later we were let back in the building. We were a bit nervous and worried about what we'd find on our floor. When you really look at it, the fire was two apartments down from ours, so we were a little hesitant to get back in. And worried about the smoke.

Well we weren't going to find out until about seven hours later what if anything happened in our apartments. I guess the firefighters tried to get into our aparment and cut the door knob off...but yet couldn't get into the apartment because we set the deadbolt! So the door was banged up a touch and we had no door knob...and the deadbolt was damaged somehow, so we couldn't get in.

We learned from the last false fire alarm; grab your wallet, your keys and your cellphone. So I had those things, but we couldn't move the car because the firetrucks were completely blocking our car in. We couldn't get into our apartment so we called our friends just a mile down the road and asked if we could stay with them for awhile during the day so we weren't sitting on the sidewalk! After a short while, we were able to get the car out and moved on with our day. Our friends took us to breakfast and then back to their place and watched a movie. After we came back to see what was going on in our building. The door still wasn't fixed, so we were still locked out. On to Target to get some clothes (we were sort of in pajamas!) and back to our friends for showers and relaxing. And we got the call to come back, the door was fixed!!!!

8 hours later we were in! Oy! The Nerves!!!! The deadbolt was still busted, but the were coming back in shortly to finish that. We're in....just the slightest smell of smoke!!!! And it's gone this morning. So a major 8 hour blip in our day. We're exhausted and have a birthday party to get to. Sadly, I couldn't bring the nasty seperated cake batter or flat half cooked cupcakes, so we brought ourselves!

All that said, remember to make sure your fire extinguisher is charged! WHAT? You don't have one....you don't cook??!?! Doesn't matter...get one!!

~*~*~*~

OK, so here is the original post I planned to share on the cake...the cake is still really great so I'll make it again soon. I have to!!!


Original Title of Post: Eat Your Vegetables

I have to add on more bit to last night's dinner. On special occasions, DM would go a step further and make dessert. Carrot cake! It's so delicious. Lord Brandenburg's birthday was this week and we're heading out to his party this afternoon, so I'm making the carrot cake, but in mini-muffin format and the sweet chili cucumber side dish.

So back to the cake!

Mother Berta's Carrot Cake
(Recipe from epicurious.com)

3 medium-sized carrots, peeled
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup corn oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened variety)
3/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cut 2 carrots into 1-inch dice; place in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and puree in a food processor or blender. Set aside.

Grate the remaining carrot; reserve.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with waxed paper and grease the paper.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the oil, eggs and vanilla; beat well. Fold in the carrot puree, grated carrot, walnuts, coconut and pineapple.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding it onto a rack, then let the cake cool completely.

Prepare the frosting: Mix the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar. Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice. Frost the cake.

NOTES:
For doing these as mini-muffins/cupcakes, they only take 15-20 minutes. I grated all the carrots and quickly boiled them, instead of puree part of the carrots. I don't really care for walnuts, so I used toasted pecans. DM recommends doubling or tripling the recipe frosting recipe.