UPDATE: Lien made the Ginger Carrot Cake

This post is a bit late, as we made the cake last Sunday. I was busy at work, and emotionally I wasn’t in a good place. A lot happened the week before, and this week was no exception. Baking with Lien helped on Sunday, but Mondays are always difficult for me.

We’re all dealing with the COVID-19 brick wall, and I think after a year of being at home, I finally hit it. I’m grateful to have a fantastic family and friends as my support system, and I’m thankful that I’m still working when many across Canada and the world have lost their jobs. I need to realize that being thankful doesn’t negate the difficulty and stress of balancing work and life. Unpopular opinion, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as work-life balance during a pandemic.

Anyways, back to the cake:

A few tips:

1. Lien did use her cashew cream cheese - she claims it turned out well and tasted great, but she has decided moving forward, she will use real cream cheese.

2. Lien didn’t add any nuts to her cake, as her son is sensitive to nuts, and the cake tasted fine and had a good texture with the carrots.

3. Lien used her hand mixer instead of her stand mixer. You can use both, but if you have stand mixer, best to use it!

4. If your butter is still not soft after sitting out for a few hours, place it in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time so it is soft enough (Very upset at this whole Buttergate situation).

5. I decided to use organic cream cheese instead of Philly. It tasted great, but the icing didn’t hold. I’ll stick to the Philly next time.
   

We started around noon, BC time, with baking and prep; it took us around 3 hours in total (usually, it would take less time, but we had a few starts and stops. My fault. I had a few things to do for work).

Lien’s cake turned out well, considering her butter wouldn’t soften at room temperature. We thought it had to do with her house being cold, but a few days later, this interesting article was on the CBC about Canadian butter and Palm oil products. I was pretty upset to learn about Canadian farmers using palm oil products in their feed, and I hope “Buttergate” results in changes and transparency.

To watch it, click here and to read about Buttergate, click here.

I’ve included some pictures of Lien making the cake :) Lien's biggest critic, her son Kai, gave her a big "Thumps Up"!