Carrot Cupcakes

Before this, I had never made carrot cake. I was never a huge fan of carrot cake--mostly I think I avoided it because recipes usually include nuts, but I was also not totally convinced vegetables would be good in cake. But when asked to make some cupcakes that would be appropriate for morning, I thought these might be a good bet. I thought these were delicious--granted, I don't have much to compare them to, but others seemed to like them as well!

Carrot Cupcakes
-1 lb. peeled finely grated carrots
-3 eggs, room temp.
-1/3 c. buttermilk, room temp.
-2 c. sugar
-1.5 c. vegetable/canola oil
-1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/2 c. raisins
-3 c. all purpose flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-1 tsp. ground ginger
-1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1. Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla, and raisins.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
3. Stir the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Divide batter into 24 lined cups and bake at 325* for 23-28 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
-1/2 c. softened butter
-8 oz. softened cream cheese
-1 c. packed light brown sugar

1. Beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth.

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

Fall came, and my cabinet was ready with a healthy supply of pumpkin. I don't generally need much of an excuse to make cupcakes--in this case, having pumpkin handy was reason enough. And cream cheese frosting...

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes
-2 c. cake flour
-1/2 t. baking soda
-2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1 t. cinnamon
-1 1/2 t. ginger
-1/2 t. nutmeg
-1/4 t. cloves
-1/2 c. butter, softened
-1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
-2 eggs, room temperature
-1/2 c. buttermilk, room temperature
-3/4 c. pumpkin puree

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Once combined, beat in pumpkin puree.
4. Divide into 16 lined baking cups, and bake, rotating tins halfway through, for 15-18 minutes at 350*.
5. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Summer Squash Cupcakes

July was a very warm month--so much so that I had (sadly!) minimal desire to bake. I made a couple batches of cookies, sure, but nothing new, and nothing that was very labor-intensive. There have been little breaks in the heat since August started--enough for me to want to try making these cupcakes, at least. I probably won't get back into a full-baking swing until next month, but hopefully I'll have a couple things to share this week.

We have been getting a LOT of zucchini and squash from the farm lately--I think all of us are running out of creative ways to cook them. I had 3 small summer squash, and decided cupcakes might be fun. I suspected it would be feasible to substitute grated squash for grated zucchini, and it definitely is. Couldn't tell the difference! Hence, squash cakes...

Summer Squash Cakes
-3 c. flour
-1 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. baking powder
-1 t. salt
-2 t. cinnamon
-1/2 t. nutmeg
-1/2 t. cloves
-1/2 c. vegetable oil
-1/2 c. olive oil
-2 eggs
-2 t. vanilla
-2 c. packed light brown sugar
-3 c. grated summer squash, some of the excess water removed

1. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat together the oils, eggs, and vanilla. Add the sugar and beat until smooth, then stir in the squash.
2. Gradually add the flour mixture, taking care not to over-beat.
3. Pour the batter into lined baking cups. Bake 20 minutes at 350* F, rotating the tins halfway through.
4. Let cool. Top with cream cheese frosting.

LOST!

I realize that I have officially become the worst poster ever. I apologize for this, and fully intend to make up for it soon, assuming I survive the next 7 days. The spring semester has come to an end, and after a pretty tiring few weeks of finals, my classmates and I are now preparing for our first year comprehensive exams next week. Kind of a big deal. Fingers crossed...

I had been meaning to do another month's worth of posts when I uploaded my photos only to find that I had done very little baking that was post-worthy this month. I have, however, gotten pretty into cooking--expanding my repertoire to go beyond cake... Non-baking experiments might find their way to the internet soon, but for now, my latest project, inspired by LOST for the finale-viewing I attended on Sunday!

(Chocolate-espresso cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and black and white fondant "rocks"... Game on?)

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Revisited

And now I'm posting the recipe from the third attempt. I think these were the best. The texture is awesome, and the flavor was as close as I've gotten to my ideal! This ended up being the fusion of a few recipes--by the third time, I was not afraid of experimenting a little, and that ended up being a good decision.

Red Velvet Cupcakes (again)
-2 1/2 c. cake flour
-1 1/2 T. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 1/2 t. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
-1 t. salt
-1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
-1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
-2 eggs
-red food coloring (2 T. liquid, or 1 t. gel)
-1 t. vanilla
-1 c. buttermilk
-1 1/2 t. baking soda
-1 T. vinegar

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa powders, and salt. Beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and food coloring.
2. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of buttermilk.
3. Combine the vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl. Add to batter and mix for 10 seconds.
4. Pour batter into lined cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

(Same cream cheese frosting as before--it's a keeper!)

"Jarcakes"

This year, Valentine's Day fell during the Red Velvet Craze of 2010. I wanted to spread a bit of the holiday joy, so I tried to figure out how to mail cupcakes. After a little bit of research, Mason jars seemed like they would be the best option. With some inspiration from various bloggers and Etsy vendors, I decided to give it a shot. I didn't realize, however, that finding the right jars would be such a challenge. There is no shortage of canning equipment in Vermont--such things proved a bit more elusive in Rhode Island. Finally, however, I struck gold at Adler's (they always seem to have the one thing I can't find anywhere else; I should start looking there first...), so on we go!

A 4 oz. quilted jelly jar. Exactly cupcake-sized. (It sounds like you can also use wide-mouth half-pint jars.)

There seemed to be a few different ideas about how to assemble everything in the jars. I decided to slice the cupcakes in half horizontally, with a layer of frosting piped in the middle. I also tried a couple with three layers of cake; it seemed to work well too. Some of the examples I saw had the frosting on the top, but that seemed like it would be a bit messy when the lids came off.

Assembled!

I put these in the freezer overnight, and then wrapped them in tissue paper and packaged them right before shipping them Priority mail (2-3 days). Looks like they made the trip pretty well!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I love most cakes, particularly the chocolates and the yellows and the variants thereof. More than any other, however, I love red velvet cake. I didn't try red velvet until maybe five years ago, at Tippecanoe Place in South Bend. I think their recipe has become the standard to which I compare all others, and few come close. So, this February I attempted to perfect my red velvet cupcakes--I tried three times in two weeks, learning tricks along the way; all were good, and now I think I almost have it... Here's the recipe from the second attempt!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
-2 1/4 c. cake flour
-1 1/2 t. baking soda
-pinch salt
-1 c. buttermilk
-1 T. white vinegar
-1 t. vanilla
-2 eggs
-2 T. unsweetened natural cocoa powder
-2 T. red food coloring
-3/4 c. unsalted butter
-1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1. Whisk together buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in a large measuring cup. Combine food coloring with cocoa in a small bowl to form a paste. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. Beat together butter and sugar. Add the flour mixture in three portions, alternating with two additions of the liquid mixture. Add the cocoa mixture, and beat until the batter is well combined.
3. Pour into lined cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Cream Cheese Frosting
-1 c. unsalted butter
-12 oz. cream cheese
-4 c. confectioners' sugar
-3/4 t. vanilla

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese until fluffy (2-3 minutes).
2. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and beat until smooth. Add vanilla.
3. Frost cupcakes. (I tried piping--it seemed to hold its shape pretty nicely!)

Look at that gorgeous color!

(And these baking cups are amazing. They're grease-proof, and Sweedish.)

Red Velvet Cake

Something festive for Christmas dinner!

Confetti Cupcakes

With both Renee and Kara in town for the weekend, confetti cake was a must. We threw together a quick batch, and added a bit of cream cheese frosting for good measure--perfect!

Pumpkin Spice Sandwich Cookies

Here's another post that's a week late in coming--but midterms are over! Perhaps I'll bake something to celebrate?

My project for last weekend featured pumpkin again--somehow it seemed fitting for Halloween week. Here I used the same base as I did for the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (minus the chips). Instead of dropping, I piped the dough into two-inch circles and baked them for 7 minutes. These have a very cakey consistency, which seemed like it might pair quite nicely with cream cheese frosting...

It did. These went over very well with the taste-testers, and I must say, these might be the best thing I've put together in a while--worth a try!

Pausing here to comment on how fantastic the Silpats were with this particular recipe. (No, they aren't paying me to advertise--they're just that amazing!)