Carrot Cake

I have a backlog of posts, though I lost some of the photos when my hard drive crashed.  This summer I got married.  My mom wanted to make the cake herself.  Well actually, she wanted us to make it together as a special activity to do together.  She was right, it was special, knowing that together we had made it.   We baked the cakes the week before and froze them, then assembled them the day before the wedding.   The day before we frosted them and stacked them.  We had to measure out wooden dowels to support the weight of the layers so it would not collapse.  My mother is the one who decorated it with flowers and ribbon.  My aesthetic skills are not as finely developed as hers.  Scale is hard to tell below, but there were three tiers which each had two layers of cake.

-Jules

 

This recipe is just for one cake, not the three batches we needed for the wedding cake.

Carrot Cake

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cups white sugar
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 8 ounces of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F  and prepare two cake pans.  To prepare the cake pans cut out a circle of parchment paper the same size as the bottom of the pan, put it in the bottom of the pan and spray the whole thing with butter or cooking spray.    In a bowl mix thoroughly the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla.   Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together with a whisk.  Incorporate the wet and dry ingredients and add the carrots, pecans and raisins.    Split the batter and pour half into each cake pan.  cook for 25- 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Frosting

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Slowly add the powdered sugar until it has all been incorporated.   Frost the cake when it is cool and enjoy. 

Happy Accident Cupcakes- aka, Wow! These are Awesome Chocolate Cupcakes

I baked cupcakes tonight! I don't bake, I cook and cooks don't follow recipes. At least this cook doesn't, even when I really, really, really try. I made sure I had all the ingredients, times two. I made the decision to do the recipe twice so I wouldn't mess up trying to double it (that is a major mistake I commit time and time again.) But yes, somehow I still messed up. This time though, it resulted in very rich, moist super delicious chocolate cupcakes. And since I misused my chocolate chips and didn't have any for the icing, I went with a plain white icing which actually was okay, because these things are so decadent that chocolate icing would have been overkill. To see the original recipe please visit Pink Parsley. I know that my twin girls are going to love them for their three year old birthday party tomorrow!
-Amanda

Happy Accident Chocolate Cupcakes

Ganache Filling

2 ounces dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Cupcakes

6 oz dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup (4 1/8 ounces) ap flour
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) organic sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Creamy Frosting

1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large egg whites
pinch table salt
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into Tablespoon pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the ganache filling, place chocolate and cream in a small microwave-safe bowl. Cook on high power until mixture is warm to the touch, 20-30 seconds.  Whisk until smooth, and transfer to the refrigerator.  Let stand until just chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.


For the cupcakes, Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Place chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave bowl, melt on high for about 45 seconds.  Whisk until smooth, and transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely, 20-30 minutes.

Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla, and vinegar into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth.  Add flour mixture and whisk until batter is smooth.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups, filling each 3/4 full.  Place one slightly rounded teaspoon of the ganache filling on top of each cupcake.

Bake until cupcakes are set and firm to the touch, 17-19 minutes.  Allow to cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.


For the frosting, combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Set over a small saucepan of simmering water, and whisking constantly, cook until the mixture is slightly thickened, foamy, and registers 150 degrees on an instant read thermometer, 2-4 minutes.

Fit bowl to stand mixer, and with the whisk attachment, beat at medium speed, until mixture is the consistency of shaving cream and slightly cooled, 1-3 minutes.  Add butter 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy.  The frosting may look curdled halfway through, but it will smooth out eventually. 

Once all the butter as been added, pour in the vanilla.  Mix until well combined.  Increase speed to medium-high and until light and fluffy, another 30 seconds to a minute.

Frost cupcakes as desired.

Two Cakes, One Success

I baked both of those cakes.  Only one was edible.  Sometimes that is how the game goes.  My future mother-in-law had a “gün,”  literally a “day.”  It refers to a tea party or women’s get together.  She asked me to make “American Pasta,” or “American Cake.”  She had a vanilla cake at a military base once and has been searching for it ever since.  The closest explanation was it was cake, vanilla and had frosting.  I thought it might be yellow birthday cake.  So that is what I made.   I searched for a great recipe, and found it.  She said it was a wonderful cake, though not what she had an American military base.  I suggested since I had been trying to match this described cake from her memory for a year now --her best bet would be to appreciate the memory as I have NO IDEA what she is talking about.  I have exhausted all the possibilities of cake I thought it could be tfrom the description.
This cake is billed as the “Best Birthday Cake.”  The author is correct.  The Smitten Kitchen is an awesome blog.  She does amazing things with food.  (Hint: Check out her oatmeal raisin cookies.)
To achieve the mess on the left only use 2 cups of flour because maybe you were drinking wine while baking—not recommended.  To achieve the height on the right, use the right amount of flour.  In Turkey they do not sell buttermilk, so instead of adding vinegar to milk (“my normal substitute) I used Kefir, and the cake turned out great)

-Jules

Yellow Layer Cake

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken (or kefir)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.
Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (Smitten Kitchen recommended this and I found it to work like a charm.  No weird bubbles. Bake until gold and a tooth pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Turn upside down onto rack cool complete. 
Makes two 9 inch layers