Week 12: Tues. April 6th
My partner and I had been talk about carrot cake for the last month or so, when this assignment came up I told her that this was our chance to make one. The following gallery is of the process. Most of the ingredients listed below we had in the kitchen already.
The cake was shared with between ourselves and two other roommates.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Carrots – chopped or shredded into small pieces.
- Flour – for the base of the cake. Any gluten-free flour mix will work well.
- Baking Soda – to help your cake rise.
- Baking Powder – to help your cake rise.
- Salt– for flavor.
- Cinnamon – for flavor.
- Nutmeg and Ginger or Pumpkin Pie Spice – You can use 1/2 nutmeg and 1/2 ginger or a pumpkin spice mix to make it easier. You can also use freshly grated ginger to give it that extra punch of flavor.
- Brown Sugar – to sweeten the cake. You can also use half brown and half white or use coconut sugar or Sucanat instead.
- Plant-Based Milk – for moisture and add some protein. I usually use soy, but almond, rice, coconut, or oat milk all work well too.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Oil – to make it moist. You can use any neutral flavored oil that you would like. You can also swap out 1/2 of the oil for apple sauce or crushed pineapple if you would like a lower fat option.
- Frosting – Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting or my homemade Vegan Buttercream Frosting work best, but you can also make it easy and use store-bought frosting – most varieties of Pillsbury and Duncan Hines are vegan.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare your cake pans by rubbing them with oil and then dusting a little flour on the oil. You can also line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper.
- Chop or grate the carrots into small pieces and set them aside.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices to a large bowl.
- In a smaller bowl, mix the brown sugar, plant milk, vanilla, and oil then stir with a whisk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a whisk.
- Add the chopped carrots and beat with a whisk again for about 30 seconds until everything is incorporated. Don’t over mix the batter. (Add nuts and raisins at this time if you choose.)
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans filling them about 3/4 of the way full to leave plenty of room for them to rise.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted it the center comes out clean.
- Allow cooling on a rack for about 15-20 minutes before inverting to remove the cake from the pans, and allow them to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost with my homemade vegan cream cheese frosting or my vegan buttercream frosting.
Hi Justin!
Week 1:
Katchadourian notes complete and lots of reflection and engagement, 3 Book stack images complete and more – I find them a bit puzzling (you seem to use a very personal, idiosyncratic symbology) but I see lots of thinking and processing, and a genuine investment in the materials and compositions.
Week 2:
Notes on two text works complete and epic! Sometimes you are joking I think? Is it all absurd? But shows general level of understanding of critical ideas at play.
Week 3:
Text banner exercise and description – so much process and thinking, and close consideration of the article. Great choice of found words – but your materials/colours/and context are puzzling – again – sort of a very personal symbology that isn’t available to viewers. Oh man, imagine the possibilities with “looping”! You could hang it in a circle, where it loops, or other choices that really relate to the meaning of the words. Think more about how material, form, and context all expand meaning for a wider audience – and not just a personal story.
Week 4:
Nature video- I’m wondering if this is also a bit irreverent? Or earnest? Either way is fine – but I’d love to feel one or the other more strongly, as your explicit intention. I laughed watching it – and wondered if you might stand there and be a tree as long as you can? Or showing somehow the absurdity, futility, and gap between the human and the arboreal – in some new and affecting way…and why a cellphone video in the vertical frame? No tripod/fixing of camera? Think about all these choices, especially in a subtle work like this – they all matter.
Notes – did you really dig into these pieces? A bit thin!
I know the works we look at together are surprising, and sometimes even absurd. But trust these references and give them serious attention. Art is a conversation, and you have to listen to other practitioners from the past, and now, in order to participate.
In your own work, think about experimentation (not knowing what will happen) and risk – push yourself but while being safe to make something with more complexity and seriousness.
Thank you for your attendance and engagement in class discussions and activities. We’d like to see and hear more from you!
If you would like to talk with me about your work in progress, readings, exercises, one-on-one comments on your work, and grades – send me an email in the morning to book a 15 minute appointment during the optional in person hours: Thursdays 2:30 – 4:30
And you can show up to a zoom meeting with Nathan anytime during these hours to ask your questions, and get tech support for using software and finishing your projects:
Mondays and Thursdays 1-4pm
Hi Justin,
Thanks so much for the dedicated work looking and reflecting on the readings and lecture materials, and the Yes No video worked out so well, I think you should all show it next year for Zavitz or in JAS. Thanks for your participation in class too – and contributions to all the exercises, baking, discussions etc. it’s wonderful to have you in the class and I hope we’ll see you again in Experimental 3!
Diane