Carrot Cupcakes

To make up for the "I hate cream cheese frosting" statement, I have decided to give in this week and accompany carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Also because I cannot imagine any other kinda frosting that will do these cupcakes justice. I gotta say, it's not that bad...especially since I can control how much cream cheese is in the frosting. And I now love carrot cakeI never use to understand how a cake with carrots can be yummy, but I am now sold!

Did you know, that the Greeks were the first to make the statement that carrots are good for your eyesight? Hence, they are also amongst the first to start the craze about eating carrots. But the origin of the carrot cake is debatable. Most believe it started from the English in the 1970s but some debate that since the Greeks discovered carrots first, they believe the cake probably came from them too.

Something that I debated with - if I should include apples and raisins and maybe even some pineapple in the cake. I read through a couple of recipes and there were variations. Some even included coconut. After a "consultation" with my better half who really is the true carrot cake fan, I've decided that I will stay true to the cake, including only key ingredients - carrots, walnuts, ground cinnamon and of course...cream cheese.

Carrot Cupcakes

(bakes 20 cupcakes)

Cupcake:

- 2 cups flour

- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

- 4 large eggs

- 1 cup white granulated sugar

- 1 cup canola oil

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2 cups carrot (grated)

- 1 1/2 cups walnuts (finely chopped and toasted)

Cream cheese frosting:

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 1 cup cream cheese

- 1 cup powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin tray with paper liners.

2. Toast the walnuts in the oven for 8 - 10 mins. This brings out the walnuts' buttery and rich taste. Let it cool on kitchen towel.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Set it aside.

4. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and canola oil until it thickens. Then, with a rubber spatula, fold in the vanilla extract.

5. Fold in the flour mixture in 2 additions.

6. Fold in the grated carrots.

7. Fold in the walnuts.

8. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups.

9. Bake for 20 mins, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before you frost.

10. Cream cheese frosting: Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

11. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat for 4 - 5 mins.

12. Frost the cooled cupcakes!

These cupcakes were totally worth bracing the rain and wind on Sunday!

What do you do on a rainy day?

Stay in? Sleep in? Cosy up on the couch with a huge blankie and sip hot cocoa? All these are things that I should have done but noooo...I decided I must go grocery shopping. Why not Friday when it wasn't raining? Or tomorrow when it may not rain? I have no idea...All I remember is I want to bake carrot cupcakes tomorrow so I need to go buy carrots, walnuts and cream cheese. And off I went!

Yes I got home safely with 2 bags of groceries and a brolly. But I also came home soaking wet. Don't ask me about the brolly, when the wind is this crazy, the brolly really doesn't shield you of anything. All this for carrot cupcakes tomorrow. What can I say, when I want to bake, I need to bake!

So what do you do on a rainy day? Get out, get wet, come home and reward yourself with a cupcake!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Another cake that I never tasted until I moved to the States is the Red Velvet. I heard about the fascination with the deep red cake but never understood it until I took my first bite! What more can you ask for in a cake? It looks pretty in red and it tastes yummy with a hint of cocoa!

I believe the cake originated from the South although there have been rumors that it came from the North. And to answer the question of why and how come it is red? It's meant to be a reaction from 3 ingredients - vinegar, buttermilk and cocoa powder. However, the modern way to bake this cake would also be adding a few drops of red coloring to it.

This cake is usually paired with cream cheese frosting but *horror* I HATE CREAM CHEESE. I contemplated for a long time whether or not I should admit this because all cake lovers go crazy over cream cheese and yet here I am, hating it n not wanting to bake anything with that frosting. I also contemplated giving in and frosting these red velvet cupcakes with its traditional frosting but I threw that out the window at the last min and went with a vanilla buttercream frosting instead. *eeeeks! don't shoot me!*

So for anyone with the red velvet fascination, get baking!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

(bakes 12 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

- 1 1/4 cups cake flour

- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar

- 3/4 cup vegetable oil

- 1 egg

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 4 teaspoons red coloring

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

Vanilla buttercream frosting:

- 2 sticks unsalted butter

- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tray with paper liners.

2. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa powder and salt and set it aside.

3. In another bowl, whisk together sugar and vegetable oil for about 3 mins.

4. Whisk in the egg.

5. Mix in vanilla extract and red coloring.

6. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions. Mix well after each addition. (Flour - buttermilk - flour - buttermilk - flour)

7. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar (it will foam) and mix it into the batter for 10 secs. Then scoop the batter into the muffin tray.

8. Bake for 20 mins, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool on a wire rack before frosting.

9. Vanilla buttercream frosting: Beat the butter until smooth.

10. Beat in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beat well for 5 mins. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Fill a pastry bag with the buttercream.

11. Frost the completely cooled cupcakes.

12. If you like, you can crush one of the cupcakes to crumbs and sprinkle the crumbs over the cupcakes.

These cupcakes were a hit! And I can safely say I am too, fascinated by the deep red cake!

Dark Chocolate Walnut and Golden Raisins Cookies

I've been crazy busy over the weekend with packing and unpacking...yes, it is that dreadful time of the year when your lease is up and you have to face the nightmare of packing all your shit into boxes and the bigger nightmare follows when u have to unpack. And then there is the horror of cleaning the new place after all the unpacking! The only consolation I have is my new place has a much bigger and nicer and awesome-er kitchen! I just had to celebrate by baking a batch of crazy chocolatey cookies right?

Isn't the name of these cookies a mouth full? Guess you can tell what are in these cookies...loads of chocolate chunks, walnuts and golden raisins! These cookies are super duper chocolatey and it's definitely a must-eat for all chocoholics.

I didn't have a lot of time in between all the unpacking and cleaning but these cookies are so easy to bake that they fit right into the madness!

Dark Chocolate Walnut and Golden Raisins Cookies

(bakes 25 - 30 cookies)

- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate

- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 1 cup white granulated sugar

- 3 eggs

- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 1 cup flour

- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

- 1 cup chopped walnuts

- 3/4 cup golden raisins

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

2. Melt the chopped bittersweet chocolate and butter in a microwave. Stir the mixture well until the chocolate is fully melted. Then let the mixture cool.

3. Beat together the sugar and eggs.

4. Then pour in the cooled chocolate mixture and mix well.

5. Mix in the vanilla extract. Then mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.

6. Fold in the golden raisins, followed by walnuts and then finally, the chocolate chunks.

7. Drop a tablespoon of dough onto the baking trays, leaving 2 inches of space between each.

8. Bake for 15 mins until tops are shiny and cracked.

So there, fresh out of my brand new awesome-er kitchen!

Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

I DID IT!!!! Finally! After two failed attempts that didn't even lead me to popping anything into the oven, I've finally gotten them right! And they were the right texture and were super super yummy!

I'm so excited! I can now experiment with several other flavas and colorings! These macarons are just lovely lil treats for any occasion or even if you just have a sweet craving on a Tuesday afternoon.

Due to the death of my digital camera, I failed to take any other photos of these macarons but I promise to bake another batch (and work on perfecting the macarons) and upload the recipe and step-by-step photos soon! I'm off to prance around with my macarons!