In honor of National Carrot Cake Day (IKR.. Who makes this stuff up?)..I submit to you THE best carrot cake I have ever had in my life..

Cut to about the year 2000 or so..I was invited to a hockey game at Verizon Center.. Hockey?.. Oh.. Suite level? I’ll go to just about anything if a suite is involved… Sure..I like the Nationals.. Let’s go!!..

It’s my second hockey game…I’m so not interested…. Again..But the food and drink.. Even the people were enough to hold my attention…Then it happened…6 layers of goodness that would forever change my life… And set me on a course of years of searching… Did you hear me say 6 layers?!?!…I’m on the fence about what is actually my “favorite cake”..But carrot is definitely in the top 3.. It was the moistest..Tastiest.. Thing I had ever had in my life.. Topped with cream cheese frosting of course.. (So good that I would eventually pay over a 1K for it)…I enjoyed it and sought out to the Verizon staff to see who made it.. Of course no one knew.. I ate carrot cake until I was just about sick but still needed a slice to take on the road…So off to the food vendors I go… To my chagrin I would learn that the cake was only available at suite level… The devil!!

As years went by I would often think of said cake… And whenever I got an invitation to attend ANY event in a suite at Verizon center I was there..Looking for cake…I even lucked out a few times… I even admonished anyone I knew headed to the suites to make sure they got..The cake…Cut to many..Many years later..I’m having dinner with a dear friend…It’s dessert time… Sure.. Carrot cake please.. Minutes later I just about bit my tongue as my taste buds alerted me… “Darrell!! This is THE carrot cake!!…” “Is this baked in house? Is it delivered daily? If so…Who is the baker?” I ask the waiter…Of course he doesn’t know…. “Would you please get a manager” (You will come to know these are words I often have to speak)… After explaining my confection situation… The manager coyly told me he couldn’t give me that information.. And was dead serious… After a lil back and forth…Some pouring on the charm.. Batting of the browns.. He seriously didn’t give up the baker.. Ok… I didn’t come this far to not get the origins of this cake.. What would MacGyver do?..As we exit I notice someone wrapping up a dessert to go.. I look over and there is a box..But is it THE box?..I snap a picture and we roll out..

Long story.. Even longer.. I had the name of the baker…I look them up on line.. And there it is.. 6 layers of goodness… But that price.. Damn!!.. I was already payin a pretty penny to have my Red Velvet shipped from Nyack, NC. There just wasn’t much in the treats budget to allow for such an expense… At this point I was just content to know where I could get a slice and where I could get a hole cake if I absolutely had to have it.. *sigh*.. Success!!

But that’s not how the story ends!!

My company decides to have a company event.. .Verizon center.. Suite level.. Hockey game.. *sigh*.. Let me go get me some cake.. Then it dawned on me.. You know the people in the office coordinating this effort.. Tell them to order the cake..To which they responded.. “Ask Dennis” (President/CEO).. Yes..I marched into the President’s office who is aware of my sweet tooth because his is as bad and asked him to order the cake… “I’m telling you… Order the cake”…To which he responded.. “No”.. Ok..I don’t take no very well so I told the coordinators to give me the catering info and I’ll order the cake and pay for it myself.. Which I did.. And told the coordinators to make sure to put my cake to the side.… Day of the event I’m on my way to the Verizon Center excited about carrot cake.. Not a hockey game..I walk in and make a B line to find my cake..I see one of the coordinators nervously..Anxiously trying to get my attention..But she was too late..As she walked up on me I noticed that my good carrot cake was not only on the food table.. But had a pretty cute dent in it… Before I had a chance to get in my feelings and set it off in the Verizon Center.. Here comes the President.. Plate in hand.. Full of cake.. Talkin bout “You were right!”.. In this moment I had a decision to make… What is more important here… Your job.. Or this cake.. And I honestly had to give it some quick thought.. Luckily I was relieved of such decision when he told me they were bringing another one out and to just expense them both and take one home… *wipes brow*.. Cuz I honestly didn’t know how that was going to play out… The best hockey game.. Ever!!!

But wait… There’s more!!…

A few days later I’m perusing my account on line and I just about fell out of my chair when I noticed a charge for over $1K by the caterer…There was a mix up and they somehow used my card to cover some of the other expenses of the party…No real biggie…The error was corrected in a few days.. And I still had cake!!!

Happy National Carrot Cake Day!!

Oh yeah…If you really bout that carrot cake like and looking for where to get it..Holla at me…I went through entirely too much to just throw a link up here.. Da hell?!