A Thanksgiving Tradition

A Thanksgiving Tradition

Every year when the air is crisp and cold, and the leaves have all turned brilliant shades of gold, yellow, and red you know the holiday season is upon you. The kickoff to the holiday season starts with Thanksgiving. The days leading up to Thanksgiving are spent planning and preparing for the main highlight of the holiday, the meal. A Thanksgiving feast is an important part of most traditional American households. In my house an important part of the day other than the post meal football game, turkey, and the homemade macaroni and cheese my mother spends hours making and complaining about is my homemade three-layer carrot cake topped with a decadent cream cheese icing.

In order for me to make this important cake I need my trusty assistant, Camden, my 5 year old baker in the making, and a slew of ingredients from the grocery store. As I pull into the Food Lion parking lot, I steer my car into one of the few remaining parking spaces and take a deep breath before I tackle the overly crowded and crazy grocery store. After carefully maneuvering my way through the narrow aisles, I make my way to the register. With flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, eggs, vegetable oil, carrots, pecans, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in hand I make my way home to tackle the cake.

Before I start the baking process, I preheat the oven to 350 degrees and gather all of my baking utensils; measuring cup, large mixing bowls, mixer, and three-8X8 inch well greased, floured and parchment lined round cake pans. With my ingredients premeasured, carrots grated, and pecans finely chopped my son Camden, and I begin the process of mixing the cake.

First, in a large mixing bowl I add two cups of flour, two cups of sugar, two teaspoons of baking soda, two teaspoons of cinnamon, and one teaspoon of salt. Next I add four eggs, and one and one half cups of vegetable oil carefully blending all ingredients with a hand mixer until well mixed. Finally, I add the key ingredients by mixing in three cups of grated carrots and one and one half cups of chopped pecans. At this point my cake is mixed and the beaters are equally distributed between my boys so they can lick the batter. Okay, so I know that isn't probably the healthiest but who can withstand the power of the cake batter?

With the batter from the beaters quickly consumed and placed in the sink it is time to pour the batter into each pan, ensuring the batter is equally distributed. With my oven mitt on, I place the cakes on the center oven rack and leave them there for about 40 minutes. The amazing aroma of the cake has started filling the house and one by one my family starts to enter the kitchen to see the progress. With the cakes baked to a golden brown, I remove them from the oven, watching my fiancées eyes sparkle in anticipation. After I have swatted his hands away, I allow the cakes to