It Happened One Night : Carrot Cake 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

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Year Released: 1934
Directed by: Frank Capra
Screen Writer: Robert Riskin
Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert
(Not rated: 105 min.)
Genre: Romantic Comedy

Academy Awards:

Best Picture
Best Director: Frank Capra
Best Actor: Clark Gable
Best Actress: Claudette Colbert
Best Adaptation: Robert Riskin

“Behold the walls of Jericho! Uh, maybe not as thick as the ones that Joshua blew down with his trumpet, but a lot safer. You see, uh, I have no trumpet.” Clark Gable hanging a sheet between the beds in the motel they have to share. 

The Granddaddy of all rom-coms is still a delight, even if it is 90 years old! And it was the first film to sweep the Oscars, bringing home Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture, and Best Writing  [Only others are One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), and Silence of the Lambs 1991).

A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.

Both leads are terrific and the chemistry is sizzling hot, almost like an after school lab experiment about to smoke out the room.

Clark Gable (Peter Warne) was never conventionally handsome, but his presence fills the screen. Especially the piquant conversations between him and Colbert’s Ellie Andrews, playing the rebellious heiress who rankles at first and then begins to grow on us. 

Gable makes every scene, even the mundane ones – like dipping a donut in his coffee or hitchhiking – a showstopper:

[Peter watches as Ellie dunks her donut]

  • Peter Warne: Say, where'd you learn to dunk? In finishing school?

  • Ellie Andrews: Aw, now don't you start telling me I shouldn't dunk.

  • Peter Warne: Of course you shouldn't - you don't know how to do it. Dunking's an art. Don't let it soak so long. A dip and

    [He stuffs the donut in his mouth]

  • Peter Warne: Plop, in your mouth. You let it hang there too long, it'll get soft and fall off. It's all a matter of timing. Aw, I oughta write a book about it. 

Best is his lesson on hitchhiking, where he gives an elaborate lecture and demonstration of each technique.

Now, you take number one, for instance. That's a short, jerky movement like this - that shows independence, you don't care whether they stop or not. You've got money in your pocket, see...

But number two, that's a little wider movement - a smile goes with this one, like this, that means you've got a brand new story about the farmer's daughter...(Ellie responds: "Hmm, mmm. You figured that out all by yourself!") 

Number three, that's the pits. Yeah, that's a pitiful one you know. When you're broke and hungry and everything looks black. It's a long sweeping movement like this, but you've got to follow through though...(Ellie responds: "Oh, that's amazing.") It's no good though, if you haven't got a long face to go with 

 But when he tries each one out, he gets nothing.  Zero. Zip. Nada.

Sure, Colbert’s 1934 pencil thin eyebrows are a bit out of date, but the film is not. Two people working so hard to resist each other, a surface battle of the sexes disguising a passion so deep that it scares them both.  Just like John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in The Quiet Main, or Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightly in Pride and Prejudice,  Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in The Long, Hot Summer, or Robert Donat and Madeleince Carroll The 39 Steps, to name a few.

One thing these and older films have is sorely missing from too many recent love stories, though.  Marriage and courtship rituals that take the long way to love, where love and marriage go together ‘like a horse and carriage.”  Today’s bed-hopping – in real life and film – is a sorry substitute

And even if it is only a nod to these conventions in It Happened One Night, we have it in “The Walls of Jericho,” that clothesline of sheets Gable sets up to separate the two when they have to share a motel room.  The wise Frank Capra assumed his audience would get that Biblical reference, right down to Joshua blowing his horn.  Sadly, he could not assume the same today.

So take a break from those soulless films parading across our big screens like the garish figures in a circus, and watch this classic. You won’t be disappointed.

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

Trailers

Film-Loving Foodie

Just prior to the famous hitchhiking scene, Gable offers a carrot to Colbert, since they both are starving, the rich bride to be having lost all her money.

You'd better have one of these. The best thing in the world for you - carrots." Ellie is disgusted by them: "I hate the horrid things." [Reportedly, Gable was the inspiration for cartoon character Bugs Bunny's carrot-eating technique.]

Well, let’s take that simple carrot and make it into an elegant wedding cake.  I bet even the fussy Ellie would like it.  The only question is, who is going to be the groom?

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

·       2 cups (260g) chopped pecans (1 cup for cake, 1 cup for garnish. Nuts are optional.)*

·       1 and 1/2 cups (300g) packed light or dark brown sugar

·       1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

·       1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil or canola oil (or melted coconut oil)*

·       4 large eggs

·       3/4 cup (133g) smooth unsweetened applesauce

·       1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·       2 and 1/2 cups (312g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)

·       2 teaspoons baking powder

·       1 teaspoon baking soda

·       1/2 teaspoon salt

·       1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

·       1 teaspoon ground ginger

·       1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·       1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

·       2 cups (260g) grated carrots (about 4 large)

Cream Cheese Frosting

·       16 ounces (452g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature

·       1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

·       4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar

·       1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

·       pinch of salt, to taste

Instructions

1.    Make the cake: Preheat oven to 300°F (149°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Spread the chopped pecans on the sheet and toast for 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

2.    Turn the oven up to 350°F (177°C). Grease two or three 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)

3.    Whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla together in a large bowl until combined and no brown sugar lumps remain. In another large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold the ingredients together until just combined. Fold in the carrots and 1 cup of the toasted pecans. (The rest of the pecans are for garnish.)

4.    Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the cake pans. If using three cake pans, bake for 20-24 minutes. If using two cake pans, bake for 30-35 minutes. Test the center with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. If not, continue to bake until cooked through. Do not over-bake. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.

5.    Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until completely combined and creamy. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, a little milk if frosting is too thick, or an extra pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. Frosting should be soft, but not runny.

6.    Assemble and frost: First, using a large serrated knife or cake leveler, layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Place 1 cake layer on your cake turntable, cake stand, or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, and then top with the 3rd layer. Spread remaining frosting all over the top and sides. Decorate the sides and top of the cake with the remaining toasted pecans. Refrigerate cake for at least 15-20 minutes before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.

7.    Cover leftover frosted cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Sally’s Baking Addiction.com