Cook. Bake. Devour.

This past week during spring break our coaches challenged us to a competition. However, it wasn’t just a scrimmage or a shoot out. It was IRON CHEF: The Stanford Water Polo Edition. One of our coaches, Kyle Utsumi, was in charge of the “secret ingredient.” For those of you unfamiliar with the show Iron Chef, the competition hinges on the contestant’s ability to make dishes that include a special ingredient in a creative and tasty way.

Our team was broken into four small groups and we were each given a set budget. Then, early Wednesday morning we received full instructions and, most importantly, the secret ingredient: Pineapple! Our team, aka Kaley, Alyssa Lo, Victoria, Lexie, and I, started gathering ideas. Tor (Victoria Kennedy) and I knew our team was going to bake a cake. Victoria is the ultimate baker, and I love cake so it was a win-win situation. But could we do the standard pineapple upside down cake? No, we took it up a level and decided to make a homemade carrot pineapple cake. Yes, that means that we would have to shred a pound of carrots by hand and learn how to use an industrial size mixer as we were using my house kitchen (as shown in the pictures below).

Next up was our entrée. What are simple and taste delicious? Pineapple chicken kabobs. What goes best with kabobs? Pineapple fried rice. After this all got decided, it was one mad-house rush in the grocery store, frantic baking and set up, practice, and then back to the kitchen for the final touches and cooking.

Counting down the minutes to when we had to present the dishes, we suddenly realized we needed names for all the dishes. Calling upon Lexie Ross’s artistic (see pineapple boat below) and vocabulary/metaphor skills, we came up with a few good names. KaBob Marleys (courtesy of Lexie and Kaley’s kabob professional assembly line), Suk-han (Alyssa’s middle name and creation) fried rice, and the Pineapple Surprise (Victoria and I: “Surprise it actually has carrots!”). Okay, so maybe not most cohesive names, but what matters most is taste right?

We arrived at the competition site, ready to battle our opponents with taste, creativity, and literally the fruits of our labor. Convinced our dishes were the best, we ambitiously decided to be judged first. While the cake was a hit, our KaBobs Marleys could not beat out the famous shrimp wrapped in pineapple and bacon. Apparently, we missed the other secret ingredient: bacon.

Other key dishes included tasty tacos with pineapple salsa, pineapple bowls filled with chocolate dipped fruit and ice cream, and a cherry-pineapple crisp. Overall, it was quite the production and everything I tasted was wonderful. I included pictures below along with the recipe for the pineapple-carrot cake from Ina Garten’s kitchen, or the Barefoot Contessa (she is one of my favorite on the Food network!). For now, bon appétit!

Ingredients:

For the cake:
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 pound carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple

For the frosting:
• 3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

For the decoration:
• 1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

For the cake:

Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow. Add the vanilla. In another bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, the cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisins and walnuts with 1 tablespoon flour. Fold in the carrots and pineapple. Add to the batter and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set over a wire rack.

For the frosting:

Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until just combined. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

Place 1 layer, flat-side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.  Decorate with diced pineapple.