Mini Carrot Cupcakes

The garden . . . I don't have a green thumb and I'm not much of a gardener but I love reaping the benefits of the garden that my girls & husband plant.  The problem is, great intentions don't go far enough.  We pick out plants and seeds, prepare the soil and get them in the ground (by "we" I mean mostly them).  The girls check and water and report back.  On occasion, they even weed.  We have raised boxes to protect the plants from the turtle, a dripper system and sun - great combination.  Then, we start harvesting stuff.  It's fun and delicious and satisfying.  

Then, we go on vacation.  We didn't have anyone housesitting (my amazing neighbor got our mail and kept an eye on things) and when I returned home, it was to an arugula and tomato jungle.  Yeah, that sun and dripper did their work and it's a big mess.  We harvested carrots before we left and I have tons of chili peppers that look awesome but the lettuce, basil, tomatoes . . . not so much.  And now the task of ripping it out (which doesn't require a green thumb just some good old muscle) falls to me.  

So, here's a recipe based on the best crop we raised this year (Middle actually spilled the packet of seeds so they were all over between the beets and lettuce) - carrot cake cupcakes.  I made minis of these with cream cheese frosting for my sister's shower and they were delicious.  America's Test Kitchen is pretty reliable and I was very pleased with the results.

Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 30 mini muffins)
from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 lb carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lie a mini muffin pan with paper liners.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.  Whisk the eggs and sugars together in a large bowl until frothy and then sugar is mostly dissolved (about a minute).  While whisking, slowly add the oil until the mixture is thoroughly combined (about a minute).  Whisk in the flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain.  Stir in carrots and walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 13-15 minutes.  Remove and cool on a wire rack until completely cooled before frosting.

Frosting:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, process 4 oz softened cream cheese, 3 T softened unsalted butter, 1/2 T sour cream, 1/4 tsp. vanilla until smooth and combined.  Add 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and blade as needed.  If it's not stiff enough to frost, add more sugar, about a tablespoon at a time.

Meyer Lemons

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• We have a small Meyer lemon tree on the side of our house.  I don't often walk that way or see the tree and you know the saying, out of sight, out of mind.  The other day I was chasing baby girl around the backyard and I noticed that the lemons were really ripe and I wanted to make something with them.  These little lemon cakes were delicious.  Martha Stewart says to divide the batter amongst 6 jumbo muffin tins (like individual cakes) but I made 12 regular sized ones.  They didn't last 24 hours.  Baby girl was crazy about them (she loved any kind of baked good) and when I got home from my race the next morning, the last 2 had disappeared - sad!

We did have some help eating them - our Claremont friends and their two girls came over for supper.  When we first moved here (one year ago tomorrow!) I felt like it would take forever to make new friends but now we're lucky to have this other family that we like to hang out with.  

If you have extra lemons and want some ideas, you might also try these recipes:

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Sour Cream Pie

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Lemon Sorbet

Glazed Lemon Cakes

• from Everyday Food 6/04
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• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for muffin tin
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk or plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated, plus juice, 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 12-cup muffin tin (or line with paper liners). In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, and zest and juice of 1 lemon. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk mixture.
3. Divide evenly among muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in tin, then cool completely on a rack.
4. Set rack over wax or parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir confectioners' sugar with remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth. Pour over cakes, spreading to edges with a small knife. Let set 30 minutes.

First Birthday Treats

Baby girl had a great first birthday and her big sister, daddy & I also enjoyed the day!  If you've never checked it out (especially if you have kids under about 8 or so), Under the Sea Indoor Playground in Altadena is a really fun place.  The birthday girl liked riding the little cars and the short slides and practiced her walking quite a bit on the carpeted floor (easier than the hardwoods at home).  In the evening, we had cake with family to celebrate.

Of course, the most fun part of a one year old party is when the baby gets to dig in to the cake!  At first she kept looking at us like, "you're really giving this to me?!?" but then she just leaned over and stuck her face in it!

While I made the birthday girl her own carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (no sugar added), the bigger people enjoyed some better desserts.  I always forget how much flourless cakes fall and shrink after they cool.  I had cute cupcake liners but took the cakes out of them before serving since they totally pulled away from the sides.  These small, rich chocolate cakes were perfect with a little whipped cream and ice cream.

Thank you all for your birthday wishes!  It was a milestone for us all to celebrate.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes (from Martha Stewart)
makes about 20

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners.  Melt butter and chocolate over low heat (or use a double boiler).  Stir to combine and remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Carefully whisk in egg yolks.

With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugar, beating until peaks are stiff and glossy but not dry (don't overbeat).  Whisk one quarter of the beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten.  Gently fold mixture into remaining whites.  Fill your prepared muffin cups about 3/4 full.  Bake until cupcakes are just set in the centers, about 20 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes (the centers will sink).

Best eaten the same day they're made; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.  Top with whipped cream, if desired.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Gotta love the bedhead and PJs for our Saturday morning baking project!

For our friend's annual St. Patrick's Day party, I wanted to bring something that would be fun for big sister to help me make.  I found  a recipe for rainbow cupcakes (get it?  leprechauns and gold at the end of the rainbow?) on the same blog as the lasagna stacks.  The process was fun, colorful, and big sister had a good time mixing the colors.

A couple of downsides:  I only got 1 dozen regular sized cupcakes and 5 mini cupcakes and the layering part was tedious (too hard for big sister to help and she didn't like that).  When I layered the colors, I'm not sure what I did wrong but mine looked more like they were tie dyed and the red sank down through the middle.  Look at her photos for perfect ones!

I also feel like I should give a disclaimer:  I am not endorsing consuming this much food coloring on a regular basis and it will make for interesting, um, okay . . . what's a delicate way to say this?  Poop.  There, I said it on a food blog.  Sorry.

Before the recipe, just for fun, a picture of the bluest eyed baby ever . . .

Rainbow Cupcakes (makes about 1 dozen)

1 box of white cake mix, batter prepared as per the box
food coloring
frosting of your choosing

After you prepare the batter, divide it into 6 bowls.  Add food coloring to make one bowl each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.  I did it like this:

red: 18 drops
orange: 12 yellow drops and 4 red
yellow: 12 drops
green: 12 drops
blue: 12 drops
purple: 9 red drops and 6 blue drops

Then, layer the colors in muffin liners in a muffin tin in reverse order (start with purple on the bottom and end with red on the top).  Bake as per the box, frost, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

It felt like fall for about one day here in Southern California before the weather got hot again and I had pumpkin recipes on my mind. Last holiday season, stores kept running out of canned pumpkin so I still have a little stash in the pantry.

These cupcakes couldn't have been easier . . . and yes, the main ingredient is a boxed cake mix. Big sister and I had fun making them and they got high marks from my friends. I described them to my sister as "cream cheese frosting delivery devices" because you know how I love the cream cheese frosting!

I eyeballed the spices to make my own pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg) and added a little cinnamon to the cream cheese frosting. I bet little candy corn or orange m&ms would make cute accents on top of these cupcakes!

My girls helping me bake (baby sister was moral support):



Pumpkin Cupcakes (24 regular size or 42 minis)

1 18.5-ounce box yellow cake mix (plus the ingredients called for in the package directions)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

Make the cake mix according to the package instructions but omit the water and add the pumpkin puree and the pumpkin pie spice. Line your muffin tins with paper liners and bake. Baking times vary depending on your mix, but typically it will be 18-22 minutes for full size muffin tins and 12-15 minutes for mini muffin tins. Check them early and when a toothpick comes out clean, they're done.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Combine with a mixer at medium high speed until smooth.

Dessert for Friends

Last weekend, we were lucky to be invited to friend's houses for Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner, and Sunday dinner (well, that was women - the dads and kids ordered pizza). I showed my appreciation by baking and it was fun. First up were the cupcakes you see there for my godson Charlie's post-baptism party. It was a new recipe for orange cupcakes.  I didn't fill them with any jelly or filling, just frosted with a cream cheese frosting and served.

Orange Cupcakes (makes 28 regular sized ones)
from Cupcake Bakeshop

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2.75 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
1/4 cup fresh orange juice with pulp
2 tsp. orange extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of one half orange.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a pan with cupcake liners.

Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.  Add sugar.  Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each.

Whisk together salt, baking powder and salt in another bowl.  Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat to combine.  Add about a half of the milk and beat to combine.  Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet, finishing with the dry.

Add the orange juice, orange extract, vanilla, and orange zest.  Beat to combine.

Fill cupcake liners half full and place cupcakes in the oven.  Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.  Bake for 20-24 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Next up was this bundt cake. I've posted the recipe before and it was as good as I remembered it - very decadent. The best part about this is the mocha icing. I want to try it on other stuff because you don't get as much of the flavor on the top of a slice of bundt cake. We ate part of it Saturday night and I took the rest (sliced thin this time) to the Sunday evening event. And, had a piece for breakfast Sunday morning. Indulgence!



Speaking of indulgences, I'll report on my trip to Sonoma and Napa next week - have a good weekend! Thanks to everyone who is helping out with my daughter while I'm gone!

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I don't have much to post about Thanksgiving because this year we are so blessed to be guests in my cousin's home in Connecticut for the holiday. I have never hosted a Thanksgiving dinner (read: made a turkey by myself) and I hope that some year soon I can do that in our new home!

Even though I've not had full responsibility for the holiday, I do love making Thanksgiving dishes and I thought I'd share a few ideas with you.

If you need a new stuffing idea, try this. I've had great success with it in past years and made a few changes. I leave out the ham and hazelnuts and use dried cranberries in place of the dried cherries. My colleague at work makes it just as is and loves it.

If you want to try a twist on a pecan pie, this one is also really good. I also like this pumpkin pie variation which has swirls of pumpkin pie filling in a gingerbread "crust."

If you want to skip the pies, and make cupcakes, try the cupcakes I made last night. My friend Katy was in town from Texas and came over for dinner and we made these gingerbread cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. They were delicious - the texture reminded me a lot of the Martha Stewart Zucchini Spice Cupcakes that I love so much. The little bit of lemon in the frosting is a great complement to the gingerbead spices. If you want a different topping option, try lemon curd or a powdered sugar icing made with lemon juice.

Gingerbread Cupcakes (makes 18) - Martha Stewart's recipe

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup unsulphered molasses
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups, and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light. Beat in the brown sugar until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses, baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture. Beat in the eggs.

Fill the cupcake papers three-quarters full, making sure that the batter is divided evenly. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of them comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cupcakes cool a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (frosts 24 cupcakes)

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 - 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon extract (optional)

Use an electric mixer to beat all ingredients together until fluffy.

Chocolate Snack Cakes

Lisa recently let me borrow "The Sweet Life in Paris" by David Lebovitz and it's been a great read. Just like Lisa said, it makes you want to be an ex-pat in another country and makes you dream about baking, cooking, and ice cream constantly. Today, I made the Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes. I needed to bake something for several different occasions (brother-in-law's birthday, friends coming over, weekend guest) and kept forgetting to buy butter at the grocery story (Julia Child is rolling over in her grave). The Chocolate Snack Cakes - doesn't that sound cute? - were the perfect solution.

I had all the ingredients on hand and although I didn't use great quality chocolate (TJ's semi-sweet chocolate chips) and I should have taken them out of the oven 2 or 3 minutes sooner, they have a distinctly chocolate-almond flavor and are light for a chocolate dessert. Not quite a cupcake, not quite a muffin - truly a snack cake and just what I needed today.



Here's the recipe on Smitten Kitchen. I forgot the salt and lived dangerously by melting the chocolate over low heat (not in a double boiler) but otherwise, followed it exactly. Mine were done in 23 minutes but I should have checked them around 20 minutes.

Zucchini Spice Cupcakes

Again inspired by the Food Librarian's post, I was excited to make these cupcakes this weekend. Paula and I had fresh zucchini from the Eugene Saturday Market and we made an entire batch - yes, 24 cupcakes. She was hosting a book club on Sunday night so her friends got to enjoy our efforts but I'm embarrassed to tell you how many we ate between the time we made them and that book club meeting.

The original recipe is from Martha Stewart's cupcake book but we left out the walnuts, substituted lemon zest for orange zest, used olive oil instead of canola, and freshly ground our own cloves. The texture was great and if you don't like zucchini bread, you'll probably still love this. The zucchini makes them really moist and Paula was making cream cheese frosting before her book club - everything is good with cream cheese frosting on top!

When I asked Paula how the cupcakes were, told me that they were talking about death and the holocaust when the cupcakes were being eaten and one girl said she wanted to yell out "these are amazing" but didnt think it would be appropriate.

I don't have anything very new or interesting to say in the debate about the differences between cupcakes and muffins, but I agree that qualifies for cupcake status. One thing we tried that I had never done before was use the foil muffin liners on a baking sheet (instead of in a muffin tin). I've seen on the container that you can do that but have always been a little chicken. The result was that those cupcakes weren't perfectly round but it worked great!



Zucchini Spice Cupcakes (2 dozen)

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup olive oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 cups packed grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Frosting options: You can make a cream cheese frosting or a powdered sugar icing for the top to make them like real cupcakes but I enjoyed them plain!