I’m a brand now! (And carrot cake!)

Check out this awesome apron my mom gave me for Christmas.

Speaking of my mom, she came up recently to see my new place in Chicago. It was her birthday, so I made her a carrot cake.

Here’s the recipe, adapted from allrecipes.com:

Carrot Cake
4 eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sour cream
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. mace
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350. Rub two 9-inch round cake pans with butter. Line each pan with round of parchment paper, then rub parchment with butter. Dust pans with flour.
In large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sour cream, sugars and vanilla extract.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
In 3 additions, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Fold in grated carrots.
Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake 50 minutes to one hour, rotating pans halfway through.
Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans onto wire rack and cool completely before frosting. (Note: I wrapped my cooled cakes in plastic wrap and 2 layers of foil, then froze for 3 days before using.)

Cream Cheese Icing
1 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar in one-cup intervals. If icing is too runny, put in fridge for 10-20 minutes before frosting cake.