You might recall that my husband and I had no Thanksgiving plans other than packing and unpacking. Thank god our friends had a sweet surprise in store for us.
I am really not a carrot cake fan. Not at all. It's quite possible that I hold a childish resentment against it for dressing up a vegetable as dessert (I tend to look at zucchini bread with the same jaundiced eye, truth be told), but more than that, I just never had a carrot cake I liked enough to make it myself or voluntarily choose it for dessert.
Enter Catherine and Jeff. Since they were stopping by after their Thanksgiving feast, we thought we'd offer them a Prosecco nightcap, a cozy chat, and a tour of our new home (still in a state of dishabille). To our surprise, Catherine showed up with a sizable hunk of carrot cake just for us. My husband tore into it right away, but I held back since I was still digesting my Thanksgiving frozen pizza and, as I mentioned, I'm not a real fan of the beta carotene-enriched cake.
After our guests left, I snagged a small curious bite before packing the cake up for the night. And then I had another one. And another one. The frosting had none of that off-putting sourness that some cream cheese frostings have. On the contrary, it was sweet and rich, perfectly complemented by a topping of addictive pecans. Also, there was a happy lack of raisins, an ingredient I always have to eat around. (Give me oatmeal chocolate chip or give me death!)
Not that long ago, Catherine got me all okra obsessed; now she's achieved a carrot cake conversion via her grandmother's recipe.