Find your giving strategy and eat cake for breakfast.
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Good Morning Darlings,
It is hard to express how upset I am, how upset we all are, over the state of the world right now. It's tough to know what to do or what to say because it's never going to be enough to make everything better. Most of us also have neither unlimited time or resources, but do have commitments of our own that need tending to. So while everyone should do what makes sense for them, I believe it's important to define how you can help and take some of your resources to make it happen.
My personal giving strategy is to find something that you I am passionate about , make it my priority and then supplement as other issues come up if I can.For me that means making a monthly donation to Trans Lifeline and Amfar and lately making supplemental donations as I can to the ACLU, regional Jewish charities and relief funds for the regions effected by the environment. I try to make a priority of volunteering a couple hours a month as well.I guess my point is that sometimes I feel pretty awful for not doing more to physically Resist all that is going on in the world. But also that you have to know you and your boundaries and skill sets and where you can best make a difference. When HRC was running for president, that meant cooking for the local Democratic field offices while they were working hours and hours and hours trying to get the most qualified candidate elected. Now, it means donations and volunteering when I can and speaking aloud to the folks that surround me about what's going on to ensure that none of us start normalizing it.On that note, can I tell you darlings about something that I'd love to normalize?Carrot Cake.There are very few things that I love more than carrot cake. And these days, a sweet treat is more than welcome.
So for an hour, turn off your NYT alerts, pour yourself a glass of wine and bake yourself a cake. Seriously.
My favorite Carrot Cake Makes a two (9'') layer cake with cream cheese frosting Ingredients
3 cups Cake Flour
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 C. Butter (1.5 C for Cake, .5 C for Frosting), Room Temperature
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
3 Eggs
3 Large Carrots, Shredded
1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tsp. Cardamom
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 C. Pecan Pieces (1 cup for decorating and 1/2 cup for the batter!)
16 oz Cream Cheese
2 C. Powdered Sugar
1 Lemon, juiced and zested
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep your 9'' cake pans by greasing and flouring the pans.
In a stand mixer (you guys, buy a stand mixer - it's literally the greatest thing in the world) cream 1.5 cups of butter and both the white and brown sugar until completely combined.
Add your eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest, beat until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and soda, salt and spices. Darlings, I'm not going to ask you to sift these because it's a waste of precious time and completely unnecessary for a hearty carrot cake.
Add your dry ingredients to the mixer and beat until completely combined.
To the mix, add your pecans and carrots. Hand mix until the pecans and carrots are coated with batter.
Bake two cakes for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
While your cakes are baking, prep your frosting - super easy. Beat your butter and cream cheese together and little by little add your powdered sugar until fully combined. Lastly, add the juice from your lemon and beat for another 20 seconds.
When your cakes are FULLY cooled (Darlings, I AM THE WORST AT WAITING - but you have to!!), it's time to frost.
My suggestion on frosting is to frost the top of one cake, stack the other cake on top and frost the top of that cake. Frost the sides of your cake - doesn't have to be perfect because next we'll press our pecans onto the sides!
Decorate the top as you see fit. I trust you, darlings!
And darlings, there is coffee in that mug.Because sometimes cake for breakfast is what's important.xoxo lcf