While flicking through this month's Good Housekeeping magazine I was instantly inspired by this recipe for Best Outlaw Carrot Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream by Daphne Oz. It conjured up memories of my friend's mum's version, plus I had a few leftover carrots which I would happily sacrifice!
If you don't know already, Daphne is Dr. Oz's daughter and is on the lineup for TV's The Chew. I have watched the show before but her recipes never really stuck out to me. Apparently this is from her book The Happy Chef which I have no real desire to get but worth looking at if this recipe is any good. Now,
I'm not usually a fan of celebrity/TV chef meals as I feel like they're
not that original and never end up being that tasty either but you
can't go wrong with carrot cake right?
Yay or Nay: Nay
I deliberately did not make the frosting as I am not a fan of it. There were a few ingredients missing such as the molasses and I subbed whole wheat flour for all plain flour, and dark brown sugar for light brown sugar which could have affected the final result. It didn't have a whole lot of carroty/cinnamon flavour, the cake was moist when it came out but dried up pretty quick. This recipe required quite a lot of ingredients and steps to it, I'm sure there are simpler recipes that are much tastier in my opinion!
I first heard of Chrissy Teigan when I randomly read a gossip mag and realised she was married to singer John Legend. I think I was more taken with the fact that she was half-Thai and that she had turned from swimsuit model to food blogger to daytime TV cook. Personally, I am not a 100% convinced on her credentials, but maybe her new cookbook would reveal all.
I was eager to get my hands on her cookbook, Cravings, to see what she came up with, and I must say the recipes were too decadent for me. The only recipe that stuck out was her Sesame Chicken Noodles which I figured were pretty healthy and easy enough to make to put on the rotation, that is, if it is any good.
Yay or Nay: Nay
To be honest, it's not like I hadn't made a version of this recipe before, I think I was expecting something different from the ginger peanut sauces I have made in the past. The tahini does add a earthy depth but overall it is nothing special. I did use different noodles as I forgot to buy flat noodles so it does look different to the book pic but it doesn't really affect the taste. Sorry Chrissy, stick to the day job.
