Moist Carrot Cake for Dad’s Birthday & 14-Cup Magimix by Robot-Coupe Giveaway! {Naptime Entertaining}
Well, Sandy has come and gone and I am getting back into the swing of things with cooking and posting. As most of you on Facebook know, our property managed to stay safe during the hurricane despite our close proximity to the beach. But we lost power for nearly a week. While I wanted to stay put and help my less fortunate neighbors it simply didn’t make sense for me to stick around in frigid temps with a young child while pregnant. So, we fled to Cooperstown for a week of electricity and grandparent TLC and just returned to Connecticut earlier this week. While we were in Cooperstown we did our best to lift our spirits with some fun activities. We helped my daughter master her new Razor scooter, made several trips to the Fly Creek Cider Mill, and celebrated my Dad’s birthday with this awesome Moist Carrot Cake.
We all need a bright spot this week which is why I am thrilled to be offering an awesome giveaway for a 14-Cup Magimix by Robot-Coupe food processor. Yes, that’s right, Robot-Coupe is the french maker of premium electronics and they are available exclusively at Williams-Sonoma. I think it is pretty cool to be offering one of these as a giveaway. The food processor is an essential kitchen appliance and Robot-Coupe actually invented the first food processor for home cooks over 40 years ago. They are handmade in Burgundy, including the motoros, and are built to last a lifetime. To prove it, they come with a 30-year warranty!
The very first thing we used our Magimix for was making this awesome carrot cake. My Mom has been making this very recipe for Dad for years because he loves it so much. It is incredibly moist and we love the extra hint of orange in the frosting. The best part was that the Magimix made it a cinch to pull together. Shredding the carrots took about 1 minute. No joke. That is a far cry from how long it takes when using a handheld grater! Then we rinsed out the bowl and used it again to make the cake batter. It was so simple and took all the mess out of it. What a relief not to have to dirty so many bowls like I usually do. I was also besotted with all the awesome accessories and blades it came with. The whole pack includes:
- 14-cup main bowl, 12-cup mini bowl, 6-cup mini bowl
- 950W commercial grade motor
- Mini & main metal blade
- Dough blade
- Egg whisk
- BlenderMix
- 2mm slicer and shredder discs
- 4mm slicer and shredder discs
- XL feed tube
- Storage accessory box
- DVD (one in French, one in English) and recipe book with more than 100 recipes
My husband couldn’t be with us on this trip to Cooperstown because of work. But we brought back a slice of this cake for him when he returned. He, too, declared the cake delicious and suggested I make it for one of our Thanksgiving desserts. I was a little surprised at his suggestion until I realized how perfect it would be. For the non-pie eaters in our family it would be perfect to serve alongside other desserts with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
In order to make your Thanksgiving cooking easier and more fun I am thrilled to being giving away one 14-Cup Magimix by Robot-Coupe Food Processor. To enter the giveaway:
1) Leave a comment sharing what recipe the Magimix would help you save time with this holiday season.
2) Subscribe to The Naptime Chef newsletter (upper right corner)
3) Subscribe to Kelsey Banfield on Facebook
4) BONUS ENTRY: Become a fan of Magimix by Robot-Coupe North America on Facebook.
5) The contest runs from Thursday November 8th at 7:00am ET through Thursday November 15th at 7:00am. The winner will be announced in the Friday November 16th newsletter. Winner has 48 hours to claim their prize before it is award to another person.
Recipe
Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake:
| 4 | cups carrots that have been peeled and finely grated |
| 1 | cup raisins (optional, but we like them) |
| 2 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 1 | tablespoon cinnamon |
| 1 | teaspoon ground cloves |
| 2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 1 | teaspoon baking soda |
| 1 | teaspoon kosher salt |
| 4 | large eggs, room temperature |
| 1 | cup vegetable oil |
| ¾ | cup granulated sugar |
| ¾ | cup light brown sugar |
| 1 | tablespoon vanilla extract |
Frosting:
| 1 | stick unsalted butter, room temperature |
| 1 | 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened |
| 2 ½ | cups confectioners’ sugar |
| 2 | tablespoons fresh orange zest |
| 1 | tablespoon freshly squeezed orange zest |
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
2. In a small combine the carrots and raisins in set aside. In a large bowl combine the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a food processor or electric mixer combine the eggs, oil, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla and beat until combined. Fold this mixture into the flour mixture with a spatula, stopping when it is just combined. Then, fold in the carrots and raisins until just combined.
4. Divide the batter evenly amongst the two cake pans. Place them on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops spring back when touched. Allow the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then invert them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. While they are cooling make the frosting: In an electric mixer or food processor beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix well. Finally, add the orange zest and juice and mix well.
6. Once the cakes are completely cooled – this usually takes a couple of hours – frost the top of one of the cakes and top it with the second cake. Then frost the top and sides of the cake completely. Serve!
Naptime Notes
Naptime Recipe Serving ideas
My father, like his daughter after him, has never loved nuts baked into cake. Instead my Mom omits them from the recipe and sometimes sprinkles them, chopped, on top of the frosting. It is really up to you what you’d prefer! This frosting recipe makes just enough for a perfectly thin layer around the cake and in the middle. We prefer this to a thick, heavy layer of frosting which can overpower the cake.
Naptime Stopwatch
20 minutes prep time, 30 minutes cook time
Naptime Reviews
This has been a family favorite for years. We serve it with vanilla ice cream but it would also taste great with coconut or pumpkin!
It would definitely save time w/ my slaw that I make!!
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Potatoes au gratin and a delicious hazelnut cake made entirely in the food processor!
We will spend thanksgiving at my parents cottage in North Georgia. the kitchen is woefully understocked. having this up there would aid my cooking in ways you cannot imagine! Happy Birthday Mr. Kelsey’s dad!
Already a subscriber! I am a vegetarian, so this bad boy would help with all of the slicing and dicing I need to do. Especially with the thin cuts I need for cassoulets and lasagnas. I’m thinking I need to try this carrot cake recipe. I haven’t had carrot cake in ages and I have the day off!
Please Please Please….I will make you cookies every day for the rest of my days. Butter cream icing too. 🙂
I would use this while trying all the different stuffing and pie recipes I’ve been collecting!
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The sweet potato pie! This would be AWESOME. Love your blog I subscribe on facebook, e-mail and twitter.
Became a fan of magimix also 🙂
Pate sucre is on this list, and everyone says its easier in the food processor!
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I’ll be making lots of pie for Thanksgiving this year so a food processor would definitely come in handy for the filling and crust preparation.
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I will be making a lot of pies for Thanksgiving this year, so a food processor would come in handy for preparing the filling and crusts.
Pies!
I just tried making my first sweet cherry pie this summer and loved it so would definitely try magimix for pie crust. Also mayonnaise…i’ve always wanted to make that and yeah chimichuri..:)
Oh my, I love carrot cake! (And I really need a food processor.) I would use the Magimix to make my mom’s recipe and also to slice apples for pie!
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There is nothing better than a delicious, most carrot cake- with cream cheese frosting! So delicious!
I would love to win this. This would help with everything!
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I make a ton of pastry for pies and this would whip them out in no time.
I would use it to chop all the veggies for stuffing!
I make lots of hummus and dips. This would be perfect!
oh…goodness…hard to decide, it would come in fantastically handy for just about anything!
I would love to try to make bread dough. It’s a fantastic machine!
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I would like to try to make holiday cookie doughs! Thanks for sharing
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I would love to try to make pie doughs and pizza dough!
mincemeat pie! 🙂
Pie fillings. For sure.
Oh my what would it NOT help with on Thanksgiving!!! I would love to make my grandfather’s orange sweet rolls (dough blade) to things off to a gluttonous start 🙂
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definitely pie crust! That would make it a no brainer!!
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I make parsley roasted potatoes and my least favorite part is chopping up the parsley. THis would help!!
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I could use it for my French Pear Tart.
Honestly, a new processor is the only thing on my Christmas list this year! I accidentally threw away the grating disc and miss it terribly – a replacement costs $75 and my processor is too old to make the investment…Your carrot cake looks divine.
Would love to have it to prep veggies or help mix doughs!
I would love to use this to make dough.
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With a daughter getting ready for marriage this summer, and frantically trying to learn to cook before she is separated from her mom and sister that do cook, we are constantly baking, cooking, and preparing as many recipes as possible so she and her new husband will not starve…. Our house always smells wonderful with soups, breads, pastries, biscotti, salsas etc. I would save us a lot of prep time!! Thanks for all your great recipes!
Wow, this would make chopping veggies for stuffing a breeze!! (and then this carrot cake could become a Thanksgiving tradition too.)
I would love to make bread and homemade noodles. Also slicing potatoes for Agratin potatoes.
I can only imagine all the things that I would use this for. I think this looks like a wonderful processor. I would be honored to win this. Thanks.
I would love to win this machine! I would make everything with it! 😉 I can’t imagine anything coming with a 30 year warranty! That sounds like my kind of machine, with everything being made in China, these days & everything quitting on me! This sounds like it will be around long enough to pass on down to my children!
This Magimix would help me save time with my yam recipe. I use pecans and need them to be crushed. I would also use this for my spaghetti sauce and so many more meals. I could make the meal so much faster. Thanks!
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I make my own pie crusts so it would be very helpful for that espcially now that my old la machine FP died this year. Other dishes would include the chopping for dressing, cheese grating for cauliflower dish and artichoke appetizer.
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This would save me time in my zucchini bread making!
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Kathy Chase would love the magimix as my hand strength is now what is used to be.
Would be great for the Thanksgiving stuffing prep and next day Turkey soup prep!!!
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I would definitely make this cake. YUM!
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it would help me with all of my T-day prep! 😉 which is completely worth it considering I have two kids under three!
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We go to Maryland for thanksgiving so I wouldn’t use it then, but I have been using the same TINY food processor for 14 years! It was on my Christmas list to ask Santa for a “real” one but perhaps I will win this giveaway?! And I subscribe to your newsletter!
With three boys, husband, school and a part time job, this amazing kitchen gadget would make life easier for all the dessert making on Thanksgiving.
I’d love to be able to make cranberry relish with a new food processor!
Cinnamon applesauce with all of the beautiful fall apples!
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chopping up the veggies for the stuffing
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So glad to hear you left the area for some warmth – we lost power for 8 days and feel fortunate to have it back. I’ve never tried making a cake in a food processor, but would love to give it a whirl.
I’d use a processor to make sweet potato gratin and maybe a pumpkin cheesecake.
I would love to win this Magimix food processor since I don’t have a food processor and would like to make the carrot cake along with pies and cookies for Thanksgiving.
I would love this mixer!!! Carrot cake is my favorite! I would also use this to make crust for a lovely pumpkin cheesecake! YUM!
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I would love to use this mixer for carrot cake, zucchini bread and to make cranberry crumble bars this winter!
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Definitely would try your delicious sounding carrot cake as my first recipe if I win!!
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I love carrot cake and this one sounds good. I would definitely make it for Thanksgiving – in fact, maybe I will!
It seems to me this would make everything easier! I am often shredding veggies to add them to muffins and meatballs to get my picky toddler son to eat more vegetables. And I wouldn’t mind making that carrot cake for me!
I’d use Magimix especially for shredding cheese.
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This would be awesome to have to help prepare my dried bread for my grandmothers stuffing! I would also use it to make my cranberry relish as well as my favorite carrot cake recipe!!
It would be great to chop veggies for stuffing or mix ingredients for a pie. There are endless possibilities and it’s been on my wish list forever.
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This would be a huge help in making my vegan pesto sauce!
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This carrot cake looks absolutely delicious. And coincidentally it is one of the recipes that the Magimix would come in handy with to grate the carrot.
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I would use it for my delicious eggroll recipes to grate the carrots and jicama and to dice the shrimps.
The carrot cake sounds delicious! So good in fact that I’d probably use the Magimix to grate the carrots used in the recipe (I’d be using a ton of carrots too, b/c I would eat a whole carrot cake myself – lol).
This would be so helpful in making fresh cranberry salad with chopped cranberries, apples, organge, and nuts!
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I mince a lot of onions, and love mashed potatoes with carmelized onions, and this looks great for doing all those onions!
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I would use it for stuffing
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