Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake is my absolute favorite cake!  Sadly, many carrot cakes are not that great and some are downright dreadful.  I have had bad carrot cake both from recipes, restaurants, bakeries, etc.  When I started baking in 2009, I was on a mission to find the perfect carrot cake.  The perfect blend of flavor, moisture, density and frosting.  After only a handful of tries I found it in Smitten Kitchen’s Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting.  This is the perfect recipe.  I have made it in cake form, bread loaf form, large cupcakes, mini-cupcakes, etc.  The icing, oh the icing, it deserves many kind words.  I have discovered that the leftovers is awesome on my mother’s home made cinnamon rolls that she makes every Christmas morning.  If you have any left over, the frosting freezes wonderfully.

Speaking of Smitten Kitchen, have you seen Deb’s new cookbook?  It is beautifully written and the photographs that accompany the recipe are mouth watering.  Do yourself a favor and order a copy today.  I do not think you will be disappointed.  She will be speaking at the Philadelphia Library in December and I cannot wait.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting 

(from Smitten Kitchen)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups canola oil

4 large eggs

3 cups grated peeled carrots

1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Line cupcake molds with papers, or butter and flour them.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them. Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each.

Bake cupcakes 14 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in pans for five minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before icing them.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy. Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.

If piping, allow the icing to chill in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to stiffen up.

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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Reposted from my old blog archive from October 2009 – I am reposting some recipes and old food stuffs so everything is in one place.

This is the second recipe that I have tried from Patent & the Pantry and without disappointment it is excellent. Everyone is raving about them.

These cupcakes are perfect mix of seasonal pumpkin and spices. It smells like fall when it bakes in the oven. I had never used whole nutmeg and grated it myself. I found the whole nutmeg at Whole Foods and used a microplane grater/zester to grate it for the recipe. I had too much icing again, but I do not think that half a batch would have been enough. I am trying to decide what I can make that would be a compliment to Cream Cheese Icing so I can use the rest of it.

It made 96 mini cupcakes and I baked them about 14 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Pumpkin Cupcakes

 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I doubled this to 1/2 tsp)

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and the spices. In another bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and eggs. Add dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in pumpkin puree.

Line the cupcake pan with liners and fill each about halfway with batter. Bake until tops spring back when touched and a cake tester comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Rotate the pans if needed. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before icing.

 

Cream Cheese Icing

 

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3 cups icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and sugar.

Earl Gray Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Reposted from my old blog archive from October 2009 – I am reposting some recipes and old food stuffs so everything is in one place.

I found this recipe on the Patent & the Pantry and it is divine.

I used Stash Tea’s Double Bergamot Earl Gray tea. The only thing I did differently was that I heated the milk and steeped a tea bag in the milk and then allowed the milk to cool. I also used 2 tea bags in the batter (didn’t measure). I would recommend cutting the icing recipe in half unless you like heavy icing or want to eat it w/out cupcakes (it was that good). I used the juice & zest of a large lemon and didn’t measure.

It made 53 mini cupcakes (which baked for about 13 minutes) for me and next time I won’t fill the cups as full. Enjoy!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp. Earl Grey tea (See my notes above)

Preheat the oven to 350. Beat the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, making sure they are thoroughly combined before adding the next one. Mix together the dry ingredients, including the tea. Beat in half of the dry mixture with the wet, then add the milk and the rest of the dry mixture, stirring until just combined. Line the cupcake pan with 12 cups and fill them about two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cool thoroughly before frosting.

Lemon Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar

zest of one lemon

2 tbsp. lemon juice

Cream butter, then add the icing sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the lemon zest, juice and beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cupcakes.