Getty Villa Carrot Cake

If the Getty Center in Los Angeles is my passion then the Getty Villa in Malibu is my secret love. I don't get there as much as I'd like but when I do it's special.

If anyone remembers the early days at the Villa you must have fond memories of the tea room. There were delicious scones and this wonderful carrot cake. I'm adding a link to the Getty Iris for this recipe. Read the interesting story of how this cake came about.

The cake could not be easier to make and since I've acquired the recipe I've made it about four times. The latest was when we were entertaining relatives from the East Coast just this past week and it was a big hit with them.

Enjoy and if in LA visit the Getty Center or Getty Villa

Mrs. Garrett's Carrot Cake Recipe

Appetizer

We are very excited Doodles won their contest so here is another recipe from the magazine. This time I'll let you go buy Cook's Country or at very least, join online. I made this as an appetizer for last weekend's dinner party and it was very successful. It does take some pre-prep but then it goes together quickly.

The whole trick to this is instead of making a normal pizza dough with yeast you make a dough with beer. Because you don't need it to rise you can roll it out and slap it in the skillet. I wanted to have them ready to go so I rolled them out and slapped them between two pieces of waxed paper and slapped them in the refrigerator. I love slapping things.

When it came time to fix them I oiled my non-stick pan and cooked the first side. When it's nice and crispy flip it over, load on the toppings and cover until the bottom is crisp and the chees is melty. This is all similar to the pizza on the grill, another America Test Kitchen recipe, that is fun, but a lot more work. I cut them into bit sized pieces and served them hot. Six adults when through three nine-inch pizzas quickly and if I didn't already have dinner cooked I might have made more.

Photo editor's note: Before I slid the last pizza out on the cutting board, plastic; I set down the pan to take a snap. When I lifted the pan, the cutting board came with it. Glad this was my last pizza. Just a little calamity in the kitchen, when it all cooled it was easy to scrap the melted plastic off the skillet bottom but the board, not so lucky. I was happy to see it bore the little recycle triangle so at least it could be made into something else.

If you are not drooling …

When Doodle's won the recipe contest in the September issue of Cook's Country I, of course, picked up the magazine. I do enjoy this magazine because they have no ads only good recipes and a few hints and product reviews. I was not disappointed with this issue and tried a number of recipes for a dinner this weekend.

Often, when going to a potluck or planning an informal dinner get-together, I want a simple dessert that's portable. There is nothing more difficult than trying to get a fancy dessert on the road. I'd rather be a roadie for a rock band than have to transport something with whipped cream. This unbelievably light lemon sheet cake answered both those requests, and did I mention, it was easy and delicious.

I did not change this recipe one bit but my cake texture was not as dense as the picture in the magazine. Mine turned out very fluffy with lots of crumbs. I might have beat mine longer but it didn't seem to affect the flavor. The sugar and zest combo on the top was great. The topping gave a bit of crunch to the, other wise, tender cake.

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake
serves 16

Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temp
3 tablespoons grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from 3 large lemons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 sticks of softened unsalted butter
3 large eggs plus 1 yolk, room temp

Glaze:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons buttermilk

For the cake: heat oven 325 degrees. Grease and flour 13x9 baking pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla.

With electric mixer on medium speed, beat granulated sugar and lemon zest until moist and fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer 1/4 cup sugar mixture to small bowl, cover, and reserve. Add butter to remaining sugar mixture and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs and yolk, one at a time, until incorporated. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk mixture, and mix until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Scrape batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until cake is golden brown and tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25-35 minutes. Transfer cake pan to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes.

For the glaze: Whisk confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and buttermilk until smooth. Gently spread glaze over warm cake and sprinkle evenly with reserved sugar mixture. Cool completely, two hours. Serve.