Independence

 

 

I have a few people in my orbit kicking cancer's ass, at various levels of independence from their cancer.  I am seeing one of them today so I asked what her favorite dessert was.  Carrot cake.  I made my tried and true recipe - Best Carrot Cake Ever -- but the purist version, sans chocolat!

 

I doubled the frosting recipe, which I highly recommend.  This allows you to make the frosting between the three layers a proper thickness AND allows you to do one thin layer of frosting, throw it in the fridge to set and then do a nice second layer that looks prettier and without the marring of moist cake crumbs.  This is the moistest cake of all time because it is drenched in a buttermilk glaze before frosting.  That makes it sound super-sweet but it's not.  It's just pure deliciousness.

 

I found these cookies at Trader Joe's the other day.  They have pop rocks on top of the chocolate so it's like eating fireworks: a must add! 

 

 

 

I added food coloring to the leftover frosting:

 



Then I painted the cookies and top of the cake with a watercolor brush.  So, no, this isn't mustard and ketchup -- it's color-zapped cream cheese frosting:

 

 

Happy Independence Day to all - whatever independence you may be celebrating today.  May it be colorful, love-filled, and may you feel kick ass independent in all the right and wonderful ways.