CLASSIC CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING

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CLASSIC CARROT CAKE!

Oh, carrot cake, I love you. Over Easter weekend I made not one, but two carrot cakes! I made my first ever carrot cake from scratch at my birthday last year and it was delicious so I decided to make it again for Easter. For my birthday cake and the second cake made over Easter, I used a recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. For the first one over Easter, I used this recipe. We definitely preferred the Hummingbird one so I'll post that one below. The other one was yummy but it was much drier than the Hummingbird one and I'm all about moist cakes!

the best carrot cake

CLASSIC CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 sunflower oil
  • 2 1/3 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • About 3 carrots grated

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups cream cheese (1.5 bricks), room temperature
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325.
  2. Put the sugar, eggs and oil in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until well incorporated. Slowly add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and vanilla and continue to beat until well mixed.
  3. Stir in the grated carrots (and nuts/raisins if you want to add those) by hand until they are evenly dispersed.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans (3 8 inch or 2 9inch, lined with parchment paper) and smooth over. Bake in the preheated over for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and the cake bounces when touched. Let the cake layers cool slightly in the pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. While the cake is cooling, make cream cheese icing by beating the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth. Add in vanilla extract and salt and continue mixing. Add in powdered sugar and beat at med-high until smooth (add more powdered sugar if it's too runny).
  6. Once the cake is cooled completely, transfer the layers to a cake stand and ice away!
  7. Enjoy :)

 

So there you have it, my favourite recipe for carrot cake!

XO,
laura

HELLO WEEKEND

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Hello Friday!

First of all, sorry for the lack of posting!! Work has been busy, my night's have been filled with things and when I'm finally ready to sit down and write it's past 10pm and my body is like SLEEEEEP. But work calms down a bit later this month so here's to hoping I'll be posting a bit more! 

I have so much to tell you. We're reno-ing our bathroom at the end of this month! The nursery is half done! I have big plans to do awesome posts but I can't flipping find my camera battery charger anywhere so I haven't been able to take photos :(

I went to chiro yesterday and it was the best. I'm all about that cracking..and getting the bod ready for birth. James and I started our pre-natal classes at the hospital this week and wow, we learned so much and still have three more classes! I'm 31 weeks pregnant which means baby liira arrives in 9ish weeks (AHHHHH!!) James has been in full on nesting mode and it's finally starting to hit me aka I washed the bugaboo cover last night...that counts right???

Any of you guys hitting Sephora this weekend to take advantage of the sale? I'm in need of my concealer, foundation, and moisturizer...but that's all too boring so I may purchase a new blush because it's spring :)

Speaking of spring...it's gorgeous here in Victoria! Oh and Vogue posted about my good ol city (so random, but yay!!) 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

XO,
laura

PS. LET'S BE FRIENDS!

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PRINTABLE APRIL CALENDAR!

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April 2016 Calendar

Happy April 1st everybody! I didn't see any April fool's pranks anywhere and I'm pretty pumped about that because I'm very gullible and fall for everything!!

Well Spring has officially come to my city. Flowers are blooming everywhere and the sun is shining! It's gone up about 10 degrees, I swear. I hope it stays like this until summer but chances are, the rain will make it's way back at some point.

April is here! Can you believe a quarter of the year is done? INSANE! And you know what else is crazy? I'm 30 weeks pregnant...10ish weeks until I get to see my little lion....weeeeee!!!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APRIL CALENDAR

Happy Friday!

XO,
laura

SO LOVED

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It's Good Friday & Easter weekend and amidst the craziness of organizing services for almost 2000 people, my heart is reminded to pause and remember the why of it all. 

For God SO LOVED the world that HE GAVE His one and only son.

I am loving the simple crossequalslove campaign from Hillsong because it puts the message out so clearly and simply. He loves you.

Happy Easter weekend everyone. If you're looking for a church to attend, come to mine :) I guarantee you'll be surprised.

xoxo,
laura

PREGNANCY POST // 7 MONTH BUMP UPDATE

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7 month bump!

How far along are you?

I'm in my 28th week and in my third trimester...just a couple days from week 29! Cannot believe it's 11ish weeks until I see my sweet baby.

How big is baby?

Baby is about 15 inches long and weighs 2.5 lbs. At 29 weeks he's the size of a pineapple!

Feeling:

I'm still feeling pretty good! My energy levels aren't as high as the second trimester but I found out my iron is low so I'm going to start on some iron supplements and I'm sure I'll notice my energy levels going up.

I don't have gestational diabetes PTL! I tried doing the two hour test but ended up puking the drink up after 15 minutes lols! So my doctor let me do the 1 hour one and I passed..yaaaay!

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen this post from last night. I had my ultrasound on Monday and am happy to report that my placenta has moved waaaay up!! Praise God! No bed rest or pelvic rest and no forced c-section! And it was sooo sweet to see my little man. They doubled check he was indeed a he and oh boy, yes he is...lols. We also got the sweetest shot of his face and found out he has a ton of hair already! The technician even told us he is going to be crazy cute when he comes out #proudmom... but seriously how cute is this photo of his face..those lips and cheeks...my goodness #heartmelting

baby boy liira

Food love/hate:

My appetite has defs increased! I'm finishing full meals now and constantly crave sweets. Still haven't had any weird cravings though!

Exercise:

I've still been walking to work about 3x a week. It takes me about 35 minutes (instead of my usual 30!) but I always feel better! I've still been going to the gym about 2x per week, if my weeks aren't too crazy. Still trying to get my squats and lunges on!! I had a massage the other week and my goodness, that was the best decision. My hips and back hurt so much before and since then, they haven't hurt at all! Can't wait for my next one :)

Clothing:

I'm wearing a mix of tight shirts and loose shirts. Honestly, it depends on my mood and whether I'm up for people commenting on my bump. It's so funny, I don't feel that large and some people make comments like "Are you sure there aren't two in there?" and "You still have how long to go!!?" It makes me wonder if people have ever seen a pregnant person before...lol. I'm okay with it, and know they're not trying to be rude but sometimes it gets annoying so I opt for looser shirts if I'm tired and know I don't have a lot of patience that day ha!

What I'm looking forward to:

Starting our birthing classes in two weeks! We've signed up for classes at the hospital and I'm so looking forward to learning and meeting other parents to be! I'm also looking forward to spending more time with James as this month has been insane! Mind you, next month is going to be crazy as we are planning on reno-ing our bathroom and setting up the nursery (weeeeee!!!)

Thank you again for all your prayers and your encouragement!

XO!
laura