Carrot Cake, Ice Cream & Dulce de Leche

The day you've all been waiting for is finally here! And let me just tell you, I am so stinking excited for this it's unbearable! Are you ready to learn how to make a little of your own magic happen? Buckle up, here are three of the most amazing things to ever walk the Earth (ok so food doesn't walk, but you get the point, right?). These are probably just about the most amazing thing to ever be produced in this tiny little kitchen of ours.

So we'll start with the Dulce de Leche.
A) Because that's what I started with. B) You're going to want to have this going for at least 8 hours.

Ingredients:
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
crock pot (or, if you wish, you can do this in the oven... but why not take the easy route?)

Step One: Take the label off of your can, DO NOT OPEN!!
Step Two: Place your unopened can into the crock pot, and fill it up with water so it's covering the entire can. **if you're worried about this leaving a ring of rust (which it does, but it's minor and basically washes away) you can put a plate under the can.

Step Three: Turn crock pot to LOW and leave over night or for at least 8 hours. The longer you leave it, the thicker and darker the caramel is in the end.

Step Four: Turn crock pot off. You can take out your can now or wait if you want (I waited and let it cool first). Either way DO NOT open the can until it is cooled or else you'll have a huge mess to clean up.

Step Five: Once your can is cool, open it up and be amazed! Delicious caramel effortlessly made in your own home! I don't know how I didn't hear about this sooner.

 So, now that you've got that deliciousness made let's move onto number two. Ice Cream!

Ingredients:
1 pint half & half
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sugar
pinch of salt

Step One: Mix all your ingredients together. Make sure that all the sugar dissolves.

Step Two (this is probably optional): Refrigerate (I left it over night).
Step Three: Mix again, and put into the freezer.

Step Four: Now, you're going to want to go back and stir the mixture about every 45 minutes so that you have smooth ice cream. **I just used a wire whisk on it for a few minutes each time. 

Step Five (also optional, but highly recommended): Mix in your Dulce de Leche! Put back in the freezer until ready to eat.

And now, drum roll please.... The grand finale!
Carrot Cake!

Ingredients:
6 c. shredded carrot (I'll be honest I got tired of measuring and just used 10 giant carrots, but to be fair i did shred 2 and they were about a cup... but 6 cups is a lot of shredding)
1 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. raisins
1 c. nuts (I used walnuts)

Step One: Mix sugars and oil well.

Step Two: Mix in eggs (one at a time).

Step Three: Add carrots and pineapple.

Step Four: Add remaining ingredients. Stir together well.

Step Five: Put into greased pans (or pan, your choice).

Step Six: Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
Step Seven: Take out. Cool for frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting **Oh yeah... That's a free-be!
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese (I used the 1/3-less-fat again)
1/2 stick of butter
2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Step One: Mix together cream cheese and butter.
Step Two: Add in vanilla and powdered sugar.
Step Three: Mix well (You might be thinking that milk would be good to add, don't be fooled. This starts out thick but in the end it's semi-runny). **Mine is obviously still a little chunky. Whatever. It was still amazing.

Step Four: Frost your cake!

(I frosted one layer, put some of the walnuts on, and then spread some more frosting over them so the other layer of cake would stick)

The Review:

Everything is so delicious! The ice cream and Dulce de Leche is soooooooo good! I loooooove the caramel in the vanilla ice cream. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with how amazing this turned out. I had my doubts. The last time I made Dulce de Leche I was a little scared so I just kept the crock pot on warm and ended up with a runny, light brown caramel. It was delicious either way. But this time I went for it and set the crock pot to low and even let it cook a little longer. This left me with a thick, dark brown caramel. I was a tad skeptical at first, but it's absolutely wonderful. The cake, ooooh the cake. Everyone loved the cake. Even a dog or two (someone helped themselves to a corner of the cake while we were out). Besides that, it was moist and delightful. I'm pretty satisfied with this cooking endeavour. I recommend testing it out yourself! And I'm not even going to lie I definitely had some ice cream this morning. After my Panda Puffs of course.