Dessert is good for you

I love dessert. Cookies, cakes, pies, milkshakes, custards, brownies, cakebreads (think banana bread), whatever: I will eat almost anything if it's good, at any time of day. But theres an issue: most desserts really aren't all that good, and thus not worth eating. If you're going to eat something that satisfies none of your nutritional requirements but ALL of your fat requirements then it should be worth it. Which is why I often end up making my own treats.

Sometimes I come across something so good, so exceptional, that it becomes a new benchmark for delicious. For example, I had some Benchmark Pumpkin Pie that my friend Johnny's then-girlfriend crafted a couple years ago. It was the new standard by which all pumpkin pies are judged. I should know, because I've eaten a hell of a lot of pumpkin pie over the years (also cookies, custards, cakes, etc., etc.); I don't arrive at these decisions haphazardly.

All of which brings me to my latest discovery: Benchmark Carrot Cake. The cake recipe comes from my great-grandmother, courtesy my mom. It's over 100 years old (the recipe, not my mom) and it is the best carrot cake I've ever had. Even my roommate was pillaging it, and he doesn't much care for sweet treats. The frosting recipe was too heavy so my mom got all Cooks Illustrated and tested a bunch of cream cheese frosting recipes before she found an updated one that fit. Credit to her because the frosting is fantastic. I would reproduce the recipe here but it's a secret.

Ahh, no it isn't. Secret recipes are for insecure morons. I can't reproduce it here because it's at home. But I'll get it for you. It's too good not to share.