Orange Cupcakes Filled with Orange Curd.

For some reason, orange and citrus in general, scream warmer weather to me.  I didn't realize it until I cut one of these open, but the slightly oozy orange curd reminds me of an egg yolk - perfect for Easter, don't you think? :)

I used the buttery orange cake and orange curd recipes from the Orange Grove Cake in The Cake Book by Tish Boyle.  I don't get to use this book as often as I'd like because it makes big layer cakes, cakes that would take my family a very long time to finish.  I decided to divide this cake batter into cupcakes (and a small 6" layer cake) and fill them with the curd.  Instead of the Swiss meringue buttercream recipe used in the book, I iced these with cream cheese frosting, which I think most people find more palatable anyway.

While falling asleep last night I decided to get kitschy with the decoration and go all-out green-dyed Easter coconut grass and M&M's to represent little eggs, but on any other occasion I would have whipped up some homemade candied orange peel, perhaps dipped in white (or dark) chocolate, to go on top.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Orange Cupcakes filled with Orange Curd
Cake and filling recipes from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle
Cupcakes:
3 cups (12 ounces) cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
Grated zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2/3 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a cupcake pan with papers.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one is added.  Mix in the orange zest, then the dry ingredients alternating with the orange juice and milk, mixing until everything is well incorporated at the end.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake pan, then bake until light golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 15-20 minutes.  Let the cupcakes cool completely before filling and icing.

Orange Curd Filling:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
3 large egg yolks

In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together all of the ingredients and place over medium-high heat.  Bring the mixture to a boil and let it get thick.  Cook and stir constantly for 1 minute, then remove the pan from heat and scrape the mixture into a bowl.  Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.

  
Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese and butter together until very creamy, then add the sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

When the cupcakes have cooled, cut out small cones from the tops of them and fill with about a tablespoon of the orange curd.  Replace the cone tops, then ice with the frosting and decorate as desired.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Today is my brother Andy's birthday!!!  We had a celebration for him over the weekend and he requested carrot cake again this year and I used the gluten free carrot cake recipe from last year, with a few minor changes as well as my go-to cream cheese frosting.  This is one recipe I feel like I have nailed down for good - I prefer this carrot cake over one with wheat flour any day and I urge you to try it this spring.  It would make a perfect dessert for Easter Sunday or any warm-weather occasion popping up on your calendar!

I took the recipe I found last year and decreased the amount of oil and sugar and I can honestly say neither was missed.  I also didn't add any coconut this year, just because I didn't have any on hand, but do feel free to add in 1 cup of it.  This amount of batter does make a bit much for 2 layers of cake, so you can make about 8 extra cupcakes with it, or just cut the recipe in half if you'd prefer.  But I promise you none of it will go to waste.  I love this cake and I hope any celiacs and non-celiacs out there will love it too!

Gluten Free Carrot Cake
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
1 1/3 cups potato starch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
4 or 5 large carrots, grated

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and grease 2 8" or 9" cake pans as well as a cupcake pan (or line with baking papers.)

In medium bowl, combine the oil, sugars, eggs and water.  In a larger bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, potato starch, baking soda and baking powder, spices, salt and xanthan gum until everything is well mixed.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, adding in the walnuts, raisins and carrots and combine well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 15 (cupcakes) minutes to 45 (cake layers) minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool completely on wire racks before icing.

Go-to Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
Pinch of kosher salt
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream the butter, cream cheese and salt together in a mixing bowl until very well mixed.  Add the sugar and combine, stir in the vanilla extract, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat for a few minutes, until very light and fluffy. 

Christmas Tree Coffee Cake.

 I have never known a Christmas morning without this coffee cake.  In one way or another, made by my mother, myself, or a combination of the both of us, it's probably the only Christmas tradition we've stuck by year after year and I love it.  The tradition AND the coffee cake :)  They're sweet yeasted rolls in the shape of a Christmas tree with a delicious nutmeg-spiced cream cheese and pineapple filling, drizzled with a confectioner's sugar glaze and sprinkled with red and green sugar and finally topped with maraschino or candied cherries to look like ornaments.

This recipe makes enough for two tree-shaped coffee cakes, but we usually put the second batch in a 9-inch cake pan and freeze it, then pull it out in warmer months, let it defrost and rise when we want the comforting taste of Christmas.

Christmas Tree Coffee Cake
Adapted from Ladies' Home Journal, December 1982

Dough:
4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 packages (I just used 5 teaspoons, although 1 packet contains 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg

Filling:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cans (8 ounces each) crushed pineapple, drained

Topping:
11 glace or maraschino cherries, halved
2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons milk
Red and green decorating sugar or sprinkles

To make the dough, combine 2 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, nutmeg, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat until the mixture registers about 110 to 120 degrees F.  Gradually add the warm milk mixture to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.  Add egg and another cup of flour, and beat for another 2 minutes.  Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff but still sticky dough, about 1 more cup.  Transfer this dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

When you're ready to shape the trees, combine the ingredients for the filling except the pineapple in a mixing bowl until everything is very well mixed.  Stir in the pineapple.

Grease 2 large baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.  Divide the dough in half and roll one half out to an 11x10-inch rectangle.  Spread with half of the filling and roll up, starting from the 11-inch side, pinching the seam to seal the roll.  Cut into 1-inch pieces and place each piece cut side down on the baking sheet - a picture of this helps - 1 roll is the tree stump, 1 is the top of the tree, then from the bottom make a row of 4, 3, and then 2.  Don't let the rolls touch each other or they'll be too squished after baking.

You can put this in the refrigerator overnight and then let it rise or just keep it out at room temperature and let rise until doubled, the rolls should be almost touching each other and fluffy.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, then cover the edges with foil to prevent burning and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the center is nice and lightly browned.

For the topping, whisk together the sugar and milk until you have a drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over the coffee cakes and then sprinkle with the sugars.  Dot each roll with half of a cherry and dig in :)

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas filled with family and friends!

Pumpkin Cranberry Cake with Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting.

We like to buy in bulk at my house.  So I don't just buy the 15oz. cans of pumpkin, we buy the 32oz. cans of pumpkin.  So generally I have leftover pumpkin after making recipes.  I just store the leftover in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.  I had just under a cup left and didn't want to open another can so this is what I decided on.

I don't think it's any wonder why I'm obsessed with Southern food and baking since my beloved lives in North Carolina.  This recipe comes from Nancie McDermott's book Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistable Recipes For Everyday Celebrations, a book I go to whenever I need an easy and simple yet delicious cake.  This recipe was no exception, the only difference I made was to increase the spices and add a few additional ones as well as use dried cranberries in place of raisins.  I also halved the recipe in order to use the pumpkin I had left, but I'll post the original quantities with my changes here since I realize most people will probably want to make a whole recipe, not a mini cake and a mini loaf as I did.

This recipe calls for self-rising flour.  I'm lucky enough to have my lovely friends in North Carolina provide me with White Lily Flour, but if you don't have that available just add 1 1/2 teaspoons of of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt per cup of all purpose flour.

Pumpkin Cranberry Cake with Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes For Every Day Celebrations
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and grease a 9x13'' baking pan or 2 8 or 9'' round layer cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and spices until well mixed.  In a smaller bowl, stir together the oil, sugar, eggs and pumpkin.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until almost mixed, then add the cranberries and nuts.  Scrape the batter into the cake pan(s) and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the cake is set on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups confectioner's sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl until well-mixed and fluffy.  Add the sugars a little at a time until it's all added, then beat for about 2 minutes on medium speed.  Add in the pinch of salt and cinnamon and beat until everthing is incorporated.

As you can see I went for the easy method this time of just putting some frosting in the middle and on top of the cake but feel free to slather this cake well as there will be plenty of frosting :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Although I'm not Irish, any day that gives me an excuse to bake something out of the ordinary is a day worth celebrating. Traditionally on St. Patrick's Day, I have made chocolate Guinness cake but this year I decided to go for something a little different once I saw this recipe on tastespotting a few weeks ago. I can't say I don't miss the chocolate, but the frosting is amaaaazing. If you ever wanted to know how to make a caramel frosting without actually making a caramel, this is the frosting for you.

In a recent past life, I was a cake decorator. The frosting isn't the most forgiving (hence the extra piping to cover up mistakes) and won't give you the smoothest sides, but the taste was absolutely worth the effort. I baked the cake batter in my new 5'' layer pans and made 11 cupcakes from the rest of the batter. The original recipe calls for a 9'' springform pan. Any pan you use, be sure to keep an eye on it as it's baking. I used an apricot jam in the middle of the cake rather than frosting and, one more thing, I cut the sugar down by half - I didn't think 1 cup of each type of sugar was really necessary and the cake tastes great without the extra. My modified version is below.

I hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day!


















Guinness Oatmeal Apricot Cake
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 can Guinness beer
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

Pour the beer over the oats in a medium bowl and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the oatmeal has absorbed the beer.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and grease the pan(s) you're using to bake the cakes in. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until creamy (about 30 seconds) after each one is added. Add the flour mixture alternately with the oatmeal and Guinness mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the apricots.

Divide and pour the batter into your cake pan(s) and bake anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes depending on the size of the pan you used. A toothpick inserted in the middle will come out clean when they're done.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2-3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Cream the butter, cream cheese and brown sugar until the brown sugar is dissolved into the butter and cream cheese, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the confectioner's sugar a cup at a time, tasting to make sure the sweetness is to your liking. I went for about 2 1/2 cups. Add the vanilla extract and salt and beat until lighter and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Hope this cake makes you lucky! :)

Pumpkin x 2.

So listen, for as much as I say I hate fall, and I really do, I really love pumpkin. I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cake. I think it's a fantastic ingredient that's easy to work with coming out of a can and it makes everything so lovely to eat. Especially since it's associated with the holidays, it gets combined with my favourite spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves very often.

This past Sunday for brunch I made the pumpkin scones here on seven spoons. They were fantastic. I didn't change a thing about the recipe and neither should you. (I did however top them with half and half and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Why not?)



Today I decided to use up the rest of the pumpkin from that recipe (it freezes great, just thaw it overnight) and make a pumpkin cake. This cake is so easy peasy you won't believe it. It's from Elinor Klivan's The Essential Chocolate Chip Book and the only thing I did differently was increase the amount of spices used. (PS if you haven't heard of her yet, get everything she's written - ASAP.)



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Start off by preheating the oven to 325 degrees F. and greasing a 9x9 inch baking dish.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and the spices. I like to use a piece of wax paper so I don't have another bowl to wash.

Then in a mixing bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar and oil. Then mix in the eggs one at a time until everything is combined. Stir in the dry ingredients thoroughly and then the chocolate chips until they're just mixed through.

Pour into the baking dish and pop it in the oven for 40 minutes. Mine literally took just 40 minutes until a toothpick came out clean.

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese with the salt and vanilla until everything is creamy. Then add the sugar and beat slowly until incorporated, and then at a higher speed to lighten the frosting.

When the cake is cool, you can either take it out of the pan or leave it in and ice it with the frosting. I like lots of swirls on my cakes. This is supposed to make 12 squares or probably more like 8.

Real Rugelach.

I live in an area with a high Jewish population. So where I work, many Jewish people come in looking for rugelach. We have something that LOOKS like rugelach, yes. Maybe it even has some cream cheese in the dough. But dear Pete they do not TASTE like rugelach. Granted I'm not Jewish, I'm not an expert on this subject, but I have always made my own rugelach from scratch. It's no more difficult than making any other cookie and homemade are always sooooo much better. I honestly couldn't believe how gross (weird aftertaste, weird texture) the ones are that are baked (they come in frozen) where I work. (As a side note, I can't believe people actually pay $9.99 a pound for cookies!)

Anyway, if you're looking for real rugelach, make this recipe. I've seen versions like this where the cream cheese and butter are creamed together, and then I've also seen recipes where the dry ingredients are mixed together first and then cold butter and cream cheese are added in, like a biscuit dough. Both give delicious results and taste much better than the kind from a store :)

Rugelach (basic dough recipe taken from Tish Boyle's "The Good Cookie")

Dough:
1 1/3 cups AP flour (the original calls for cake flour, I didn't have any, turned out fine with AP)
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sour cream, egg yolk and vanilla and combine. Add the dry ingredients and stir until everything comes together in a nice dough.

Divide the dough into three equal parts and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate for 6 hours. (Or actually this is what the recipe says to do. I wrapped each and threw them in the freezer for 1 hour because I'm impatient and wanted rugelach TODAY dammit.)

Filling: You can have lots of fun with this!
3/4 cup any jam you have around (I used raspberry, seeds strained out)
1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar, combined in a small bowl
1 cup toasted, finely chopped nuts (I used walnuts and almonds) combined with 1 cup finely chopped dried fruit (I used cranberries)

When the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll it out on a floured surface to about 12 inches in diameter. Spread about 1/3 of the jam on the circle, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar, and about 1/3 of the nut/fruit combination. Press into the jam lightly so it doesn't spill out too much. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the circle into fourths, then each fourth into fourths, so you end up with 16 triangles all together. Take each triangle and roll it up starting at the wider end and tuck the little point underneath the roll, then place that side down onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue with the other pieces of dough.

Bake each sheet for about 20 to 30 minutes or until nice and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. These are good with just about any beverage and although I have a mug of milk in this picture, my drink of choice was actually YooHoo.

The magic of streusel AKA crumb toppings.

I don't really plan to make things that have similar attributes at the same time, it just happens. For instance this past week I received the book Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter from Amazon so that I would never run out of ideas for brunch on Sundays. I decided early Saturday to make one of the first recipes in the book, Butter Crumb Coffee Cake. Looked easy, sounded delicious, and the streusel recipe was intense. I mean, there was a TON of it. And I LOVE streusel, any crumb topping.

Then I remembered about these apples that have been sitting on my counter for a week and a half. I promised myself I'd use them for Easter and never got around to it, so I knew they were almost past their prime, and I'd better use them sooner rather than later. Looked in the fridge, saw a couple packages of cream cheese and then thought "apple cheesecake!" A bit of Googling and I found myself a nice recipe for apple cheesecake bars - that just happened to include a nice recipe for streusel on top. I followed the recipe to a T, except I substituted Tom Sawyer's Gluten-Free Flour for the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe and omitted the oats in the topping (my brother's fiance is a Celiac, her mother wanted me to try this flour. IT IS GREAT! For anyone with wheat intolerance. Try it out for sure.)

Anyhoo, blah blah. Here are the recipes!

Butter Crumb Coffee Cake adapted from Carole Walter's Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More



Streusel:
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put the butter in a heavy saucepan and heat until almost melted. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, and add this to the butter and stir until the mixture forms large crumbs. At this point I put the whole pot in the fridge until the batter was ready.

Batter:
2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes and softened
1 large egg
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and spray a 10-inch springform pan with baking spray or line the bottom with parchment paper and generously butter the sides and bottom.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and cut it in until the mixture has a very fine crumb texture. In a small bowl combine the egg, milk and vanilla and then add this to the butter/flour mixture, and stir until it is thick and well combined, about 1 minute.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top out. Then take your streusel out of the fridge and make big clumps of it in your hand, then crumble it on top of the batter, scattering it evenly over the entire thing.

Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely, then take the ring off the springform pan and serve! I like to keep this under a cake dome, seems to stay fresher that way.



Apple Cheesecake Bars found on this blog and modified slightly.

Crust:
2 cups AP (or gluten-free) flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I used dark brown mm)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

Combine the flour and sugar until there are no more lumps of sugar left. Add the butter and mix until the butter is nicely distributed throughout. Press this into the bottom of the pan. Bake until it is golden, about 15 minutes.

Streusel:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (again I used dark brown)
1 cup AP (or gluten-free) flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Combine the sugar and flour, and then cut in the butter until coarse crumbs form. Set aside.

Apples:
4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger (I added this)

Stir the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger together, then pour over the apples and stir well to combine.

Cheesecake Batter:
2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons Amaretto (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until lump-free. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the Amaretto or extract and beat on low speed until everything is incorporated.

When the crust is out of the oven, pour the cheesecake batter on top, smoothing to the edges. Then top with the apples, and then finally, the streusel. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cheesecake batter looks set. Chill thoroughly, cut into bars, and enjoy!

Use What You've Got : Carrot Cupcakes.

It hasn't stopped snowing now for at least 48 hours. And it gets tiring. All the shoveling, winter driving, making sure you have enough gas in your car in case you get stuck in a ditch somewhere.

So generally when I don't have to go anywhere during this time of year I don't. (basically I become a hermit) Actually, it's March now right? Usually this happens around January or February but you never know here in Buffalo. We're going through quite the storm and it will be (TECHNICALLY) spring in two weeks. But to get to the point I don't exactly have the nerves to get in my car and drive to the store to get stuff when I need it when baking. I use what I have.

I really dislike when people on recipe sites (epicurious.com coughcough) make a recipe, then rate it with 5 out of 5 stars when they substitute every ingredient for another ingredient... it's hardly the same recipe anymore! However cooking and baking are about using what you've got ultimately in my opinion. Cooking moreso, but when it comes to add-ins in baking I say why not. Therefore in this carrot cake I used pecans, not walnuts. I used melted butter, not canola oil or some fancy walnut oil (like one recipe I came across called for.) So here is my version of carrot cake. Loosely based on the one from Elinor Klivan's book "Cupcakes."



Cupcake batter:
1 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola or corn oil (used melted butter, as mentioned. came out lovely.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 cup finely grated carrots
3/4 cup golden raisins (I'm sure you could add whatever you want here if you're not a raisin fan. I considered dried cranberries and/or apricots for example.)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (pecans IMO)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and line a 12-cup muffin pan with papers.

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon onto a piece of wax or parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and thick, about 1 minute on high speed. On low speed mix in the oil or butter, vanilla, orange zest until blended. Mix in the flour, carrots and other add-ins here and blend until just combined.

Fill each cupcake paper with about 1/4 cup batter and bake until the tops are firm and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each one comes out clean, about 28 minutes. (I think mine took about 24. Check early, they burn easily.)

Cool the cupcakes completely on a wire rack.

Orange Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:
(These would be totally rad with just regular cream cheese frosting also I'm sure. I had to use up some coconut stuff that was in the freezer.)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 cups icing sugar
1 cup sweetened flake coconut
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and combined. Then add the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat on medium until well blended. Add the coconut and orange zest.

I liked these to be kind of home-y looking. I originally used a star tip to pipe the frosting on but it reminded me too much of a bakery I used to work at so I got my little icing spatula out and swirled away. Have fun with the garnishes on these. (I considered making these carrot sprinkles from Cupcake Bakeshop but didn't have enough time.) I used a toasted pecan half and toasted coconut that I then whizzed up in the food processor until it was a bit finer. I absolutely love these cupcakes and I hope you do too.