Role Models and Carrot Cupcakes

We all have them, individuals who inspire us to step out of the box, to try something new. These individuals do not always have to be famous, for many -including myself- their role models are their mothers or fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, even a brother, sister or friend. While I do credit my mom for starting my down the path of baking, I have to give a special shout out to TLC's Cake Boss. 

A little more than a year ago, I started an account on Netflix. Why is this relevant? Because shortly afterwards, I stumbled upon Cake Boss. Thanks to the blog Cake Wrecks, I had seen just what a baker -for good or for worse- could do with a cake. None of that prepared me what I saw Buddy Valastro and his crew do. The complexities of their designs, the delicious of their cakes; everything I saw totally blew my mind. If there is such thing as baking magic, than the people at Carlo's Bakery, at least in my eyes, are wizards. Naturally, once I was finished watching the seasons that were available on Netflix, I found a way to view the current season, albeit illegally. The more I watched, the more I fell in love with cake and other baked goods, and can be done with them. Sitting in my dorm room is a cupcake decorating book; I can guarantee that soon, I'll feature decorated cupcakes on my blog!

Call me a fan girl; its ok, I won't deny it. I aspire to travel to Hoboken, New Jersey just to try one of the bakery's famous baked goods. If I could, I would love to take one of the decorating classes that Buddy offers on his website. Just the opportunity to meet Buddy would be enough. I would tell him thank you for inspiring me, that I became a baker after seeing what you could do. While my dream of traveling to Hoboken hangs in Limbo, I am extremely thankful that famous chefs and bakers tend to write books. That's right! I mananged to snag Buddy's latest bake-book, "Baking with the Cake Boss". Thank you local library! While the book is filled with different recipes for pastries, cookies, and of course, cakes, the real focus of the book is demonstrating Buddy's decorating skills and how people at home can perfect theirs. As cool as it is to learn to decorate like the Cake Boss, I already knew what recipe I wanted to try. A while ago, I decided that I wanted to make something special for my mom, her favorite recipe; carrot cake.

Carrot Cake

Adapted from "Baking with the Cake Boss" by Buddy Valastro

Makes two 9 inch cakes or 24 cupcakes (or if you're me, 29) 

3 cups finely grated carrots (from about 5 large carrots)

2 1/2 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 vegetable oil

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 extra-large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup golden raisins

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Rather than using large carrots, I used a bag of mini carrots. For the most part, I used about the whole bag, just a few were left over. After washing and shredding the carrots in a food processor, Buddy suggests squeezing out the excess moisture in the carrots by putting them in a colander and pressing on them with a paper towel. This will keep the batter from being too wet or loose.

Put the carrots, flour, sugar, oil, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the paddle attachment. If you lack a stand mixer, a hand mixer works just fine. Mix on low until the ingredients are tossed together well, a few second, then raise the speed to low-medium and continue to mix until the mixture is smooth, approx 1 additional minute.

With the motor still running on the stand mixer, add one egg at a time, adding the next one after the previous has been absorbed. Stop the mixer periodically and scrape from the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to further incorporate. Return the mixer to low-medium speed.

Continue to mix for 1 additional minuter to ensure that the eggs are full absorbed. The will also help ensure that all the sugar is dissolved and the flour is incorporated. With the motor running, pour in the milk, 1/2 cup at a time, stopping the motor again to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl between the additions. Continue to mix for another 1 minute or until the mixture appears smooth.

 Add the walnuts and raisins and mix just enough to integrate them. I add additional amounts of both just because it didn't look like there was enough in there for me.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake pans and fill until about 2/3rds fill. Its important to constantly mix the batter, otherwise the carrots, walnuts, and raisins will sink to the bottom. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the top is firm and passes the toothpick test. It may seem like that's too long, but since this was originally a cake recipe, you have to play by the cake rules.

Don't let the color fool you; these babies have been baked to perfection! While topping them off with the classic cream cheese frosting would have put these cupcake over the top, I once again passed on adding the frosting. My family isn't in to frosting the way I am and I agree with them this time around. These cupcakes were already rich; frosting may have been over-kill.

For now, I have no idea what my next cupcake project is going to be. I kinda really want to try making cheesecake cupcakes, but we'll have to see how that turns out. I can  promise that my next blog post will feature my attempts to cook chicken enchiladas. I can assure you, this is going to be interesting.

Until next time,

Jill