The name says it all. When you take these to a party, don't expect to bring home any leftovers!
Prep Time30 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Servings: 24
Calories:
Author: Chris Scheuer
Ingredients
2cupsall-purpose flour
2teaspoonsbaking soda
½teaspoonbaking powder
2teaspoonsground cinnamon
¼teaspoonnutmeg
¼teaspooncloves
1teaspoonsalt
2cupssugar
4eggs
½cupbuttermelted
½cupvegetable oil
1 4-ouncejar baby food apple sauce
3 4-ouncejars baby food carrots
2teaspoonsvanilla
1cupcoconut
Icing
10tablespoonsbuttersoftened
2ouncescream cheesesoftened
6cupspowdered sugar
2teaspoonsvanilla
3tablespoonshalf & halfmay need a bit more
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Generously spray a a 10x15-inch sheet pan or a 9x13-inch cake pan with baking spray.
Stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Set aside.
Place eggs in a medium size bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add sugar, melted butter, oil and vanilla, stir well. Add all of the baby food. Stir until combined.
Add the flour mixture and stir till smooth and all flour disappears. Add vanilla and coconut and stir to combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes for the 10x15-inch sheet pan and 30-35 minutes for 9x13-inch pan or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.
For the icing, combine butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix on low speed till powdered sugar is incorporated. Add vanilla and half & half and continue beating for 3-4 minutes or until icing is light and fluffy. If it's a bit too thick, add a little more half & half. If too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.
If you're going to complete the cake bars with the decorative carrots, reserve 1 cup of the icing. Spread the rest evenly over the cake with an angled knife, smoothing the top as much as possible. Set aside for 1-2 hours before serving or adding carrot decorations.
For decorative carrots, divide reserved icing into two medium size bowls. Add orange and green food coloring till desired shade is achieved. (I didn't have orange so I used an equal amount of red and yellow food coloring. For the green carrot tops, I used standard liquid green food coloring and added a few drops of yellow to make a more spring-like green) Transfer colored icing to 2 decorating bags (one for each color) fitted with piping tips. I used a Wilton 224 for the carrot tops and Wilton 10 for the carrots themselves. Here is a great tutorial on making carrots. I'd never attempted carrots before so I did a lot of practicing as you can see in the picture below.