GOLDEN CARROT CAKE LOAF

We may not be  swimming in gold medals, but the Games aren’t over yet.  Today I watched Women’s Ski Cross and was elated to see Canadian McIvor win gold.  It was a race with a lot of upsets and wipe-outs.  It was  very enjoyable to watch.

 

I’ve been soaking up the Olympic spirit recently and have thus been absent from posting, but I’m having too much fun to be worrying about  keeping up with posts (sorry, y’all).  Going downtown and everywhere else by our rapid transit system isn’t so bad.  We even walked all the way down to Granville Island from our house on Sunday because it was so sunny. 

As you can see, the cherry blossoms are out and though it doesn’t bode well to not have snow as a Winter venue, it sure is lovely for the tourists walking about downtown and in the long queues.  I think there’s practically a line-up for everything.   There’s so much free stuff to do, but of course some of the waits are too much for us to even attempt with a 3 year old and a 6 year old.

The line-up for face painting at Granville Island was about an hour.  Bib had Miga,

the Olympic mascot painted on her face while Bebe had Sumi on her face.  They thought it was worth the wait.

We saw on Sunday, the now Olympic Gold champions Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue perform their Original Dance.  They were so graceful, poised and athletic.  It just makes you so proud to be a Canadian! yay Canada!  Prior to that, we also saw Norway squashed 8-0 by Canada in the preliminary game and haven’t been disappointed by the patriotic and amazing atmosphere everywhere.  Everywhere you go, you see people with something Canadian on them:  Olympic mittens, scarves,  Canadian hoodies, jackets and red clothing; maple leaf tattoos and it goes on and on.  It’s so neat to see us ordinarily innocuous Canadians display such overt patriotism. 

Since I’m so pressed for time because of going to all these cool events and milking all the free (actually I pay my taxes, so maybe not so free) Olympic activities, I’ve made a carrot cake which is speedy to make and will be speedily eaten.  It’s moist and it’s healthy; with an Olympian portion of additional fibre.  Though of course, you wouldn’t think it’s healthy because the healthy part’s hidden.  And I’ve further embellished it with a vanilla icing drizzle.

Look, it’s the “crusties”.  Apparently, according to my Crusties Poll on the sidebar, people overwhelmingly LOVE the Crusties.

I’m calling this my “Golden Carrot Cake Loaf” because well, I’m hoping for more Gold for Canada of course!
GOLDEN CARROT CAKE WITH VANILLA ICING DRIZZLE

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons oat bran
• 2 tablespoons ground golden flaxseed
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• approx. 5 carrots, peeled and grated to make 1 1/2 cups (6 oz; 170 g) [I used my food processor to grate the carrots quickly]

1. Preheat oven to 350 degreesF.  Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray and line the bottom with parchment.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.  Mix in flaxseed and oat bran.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar.  Add oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and continue to beat until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the mixer batter.  Beat briefly to combine and until flour is absorbed into the batter.  Add carrots and beat until distributed evenly in batter.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake on the centre rack in the preheated oven for 65-75 minutes or until done.
6. Cool cake in its pan for 10 minutes.  Loosen sides with a knife and turn out onto a rack set over a sheet pan to continue cooling. 
7. Prepare Vanilla Drizzle while the cake is cooling:  In a measuring cup, mix together the drizzle ingredients until smooth and there are no lumps.  Slowly drizzle the icing back and forth across the loaf.  Allow to continue cooling on the rack.  The excess drizzle with be caught on the sheet pan.

VANILLA DRIZZLE ICING

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• enough milk to create a drizzly icing: start with a tablespoon and add a little at a time, stirring until of desired consistency