Carrotcake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these cupcakes a couple of years ago for my birthday and they were SO good. The frosting alone is amazing...I think I could just eat the frosting on its own. It is cream cheesey, orangey, and sweet. So delicious.
I think the Carrotcake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting came out much better this time. I added more spices, added raisins, and used more butter than oil (I ran out of oil so had to improvise). I also used a larger shredder for the carrots so the pieces were larger and more noticeable in the finished cupcake. I really liked the addition of the raisins, and more butter was nice too. I think using more melted butter versus all oil made the batter thicker, more like a cake batter, instead of thinner like it was last time. The cupcakes lasted almost a week (unfrosted), covered on the kitchen counter. I kept the frosting in the fridge and scooped a bit out as needed, letting it warm to room temperature before using.

The recipe is 24-Karat Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Icing from Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions (page 239).

mise en place for the cupcakes

the smell of the orange zest (for the frosting) was divine

a food processor made grating the carrots a breeze

the cupcake batter: adding the melted butter

nearly there...you can see all of the spices...yum!

the carrots, raisins, and walnuts get added last

beautiful!

I like to use a scoop so the batter is evenly distributed

ready to bake

done! They smell so delicious.

making the cream cheese frosting

for flavoring the frosting: I used orange zest, freshly squeezed
orange juice, and a few drops of pure orange oil

the softened cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar are beaten

the orange juice and vanilla are added...so smooth and silky!

finally the orange zest is added...so delicious!

cooled and frosted

I'd better just try one before serving them

ready for company...yum!

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Emergency Blender Cupcakes

This month's Avid Baker's Challenge choice is the Emergency Blender Cupcakes from The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge.

In February we made Glazed Cinnamon Rolls and in January, Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake. Both were delicious so I was looking forward to making these chocolaty cupcakes. But then life got in the way and I was super busy at the beginning of the month so I decided to skip this month. But then...I took a look at the cupcakes that my fellow ABCers made and had a family game night coming up so...I had to give them a go. I'm really glad that I did because they were easy and delicious. I followed the changes that Hanaâ made (you can find her Emergency Blender Cupcakes recipe here) and came out with 12 moist and scrumptious chocolate cupcakes. They were a big hit - my husband ate three (so I guess he liked them!) and the rest disappeared by the end of game night. All of the ingredients are pantry staples, so I will definitely make these again.

A few pictures:

mise en place - pantry staples!

done and ready to be frosted with a quick and easy ganache

ready for game night!

even though they were chocolate on chocolate, they were not overpowering

so moist and delicious!

Bye for now...

Heavenly Cake Baker: German Chocolate Cake (free choice)

This week's Heavenly Cake Baker cake was free choice. I haven't been baking much lately - a combination of it being super hot and humid, having an unusually busy summer and then being on vacation in Montreal (joy!) - so I thought I would choose a cake that my fellow HCBers made while I was away. I chose the German Chocolate Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I've never made a German Chocolate cake before and this seemed pretty straightforward so I decided to give it a go.

The cake was dead easy to make and had a very unconventional way of mixing. Normally cakes have milk which is added to the creamed butter/sugar/eggs mixture in 3 or 4 parts alternating with flour. This cake has no milk. Instead, it calls for oil and extra egg whites. The eggs are separated and the egg whites are added at the end. Worked like a charm!

I decided to make cupcakes instead of a layer cake and they came out nice and moist. They were chocolaty, without being too chocolaty (which can also be delicious!) and the crumb was light and spongy. The light texture went well with the heavier coconut frosting. The frosting was good, but very thick and sweet and I could taste the evaporated milk quite clearly. On the one hand I thought I might not have cooked it down enough (because of the flavor coming through) but on the other hand I thought I cooked it too long (because it was so thick). I used a flake coconut (instead of shredded) but I think the larger flakes would have worked better on a large cake instead of the cupcakes. Next time I might try part shredded and part large flakes. Or I might just use a buttercream frosting instead. My husband had a plain cupcake with vanilla ice cream on top and declared it delicious!

mise en place for the chocolate cake

the cocoa is melted with boiling water and then the yolks and oil are mixed in...

until it's light, fluffy and almost resembles a buttercream frosting

then the flour is added and you get this thick sticky batter.
Finally the egg whites are added (no photo) and you get a very thin, liquidy batter!

finished cupcakes...light and moist

mise en place for the coconut frosting

evaporated milk, sugar and egg yolks get cooked, then coconut and pecans are added

my husband said: "it looks like pasta"

voila!

delicious

Bye for now...

Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday earlier this month and I felt like baking for it (what else is new?!) so we had a small family dinner party which turned into a bit of a potluck/takeout party because the heat was just too much to have the oven on all day. I did, however, manage to make a few things and of course a birthday cake (well, cupcakes)...24-Karat Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Icing from Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions (page 239). These cupcakes were wonderful! They were moist and flavorful and topped with a delicious citrusy cream cheese frosting.

The roasted carrots pictures are actually from a few months ago but I stumbled on them when sorting through some pictures and thought they were so pretty that I wanted to share. I get a vegetable/fruit delivery from Boston Organics every other week but for a while was doing all vegetables on a weekly basis and was getting a TON of carrots, so roasted carrots and onions became my "thing." I love Boston Organics - a shot of the inside of my 2/3 vegetable, 1/3 fruit box is below. They deliver right to my door and I can even add on items like organic strawberries (fav!), other fruit/veg, fresh bread, coffee beans or chocolate bars. Love!

my cats showing their party spirit...I guess it's too hot for them too.

my delivery...oh, yum

carrots and rosemary

chopped and into the pan

salt, pepper, olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar go over the top and get stirred in

I roast them at a pretty high temp to get some good caramelizing action going on

yum!

this is my new favorite rice - 6 different grains! I get it from the Japanese grocery store

all the different grains

I usually mix in some white sushi rice (1/4-1/3 of the total amount)

my wonderful rice cooker - perfect rice every time!

rinse, add water to the line corresponding to the number of cups of rice, let soak for several hours...
and then the rice cooker does the rest

now on to my birthday cupcakes!

everything mixed together except the carrots and nuts

fold in the carrots and nuts

into their little paper cups and...

...voila, cute little carrot cupcakes

the cream cheese frosting has both lemon and orange zest...it was amazing!

frosted and ready to enjoy

moist and delicious!

Bye for now...