Chip grabbed my big cake book and quickly paged through this year, as the decision was sort of last minute. He narrowed it down to a key lime cake, but I pointed out that he got that one a few years ago. So he asked what did I want to make, and I replied 'carrot!'
My SiL took T for a day, so I baked the cakes while he was gone. This way I didn't have to interrupt chopping apricots or overmix my eggs and sugar to see what the toddler was up to or sit and play cars when I really needed to be baking...
I frosted the cake that morning, and quickly realized the recipe doesn't call for a lot of frosting. I decided to go the 'naked cake' route, even though I'm really not a fan of that look. I didn't do it completely, either, as you're supposed to scrape a little frosting around the side, too, but I just didn't want to mess with that.
Then it was a matter of how to finish it off. I kept thinking of how I finished off the cake for my friend's surprise party several months ago, and wondered what I could use in the center for this one. I thought extra grated carrots first, but didn't want them to dry out and look gross by serving time. Then I had an inspiration--color coconut to look like grated carrots! I employed some help in this endeavor:
We had the party in conjunction with our Chinese New Year bash (Saturday was right between the two celebrations), so our dim sum dinner was rounded out with birthday cake!
Alas, I was too busy in the kitchen to get pictures, other than a couple, so I don't have many CNY shots for you... Plus we ate all the food quickly--it was all delicious! We divvied up some of the food assignments, and also asked Chip's niece to pop over to Chinatown in Chicago for us. She found us all kinds of decorations, which we'll be able to use year after year, which is fantastic! Chip also ordered a couple of things from San Francisco's Chinatown.
T received his first set of chopsticks; these fascinated him, and I did quickly snap a picture or two.
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