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 

Holiday Delight

Since school is out for a while, I finally have enough time to get back to doing what I enjoy the most: BAKING! And naturally I wanted to kick things off by using an ingredient that I had only read about but never used...sweet potato! Who knew that a yam would actually taste good when baked as a cupcake? I didn't, but my grandma thought otherwise. Truly, she is the only reason why I decided to try making these. Thanks grandma!

Additionally, this recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens. Talk about the big leagues. For me, this is the first time that I've ever tried a recipe from them, but considering their lengthy run as a magazine, I made the safe assumption that the recipe would work out ok.

Chocolate-Filled Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Prep Time: 25 min. Bake Time: 19 min.

Makes about 24

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled, roasted, and mashed

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

24 milk or dark chocolate kisses -I used dark chocolate

Frosting: I didn't make this so don't expect any comments or anecdotes about it!

8 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

 1 cup minus (???) 2 Tbsp, unsalted butter, softened

1.2 cup powdered sugar

 

 While the oven is preheating at 350 F, peel, wash, roast, and mash the sweet potatoes. True, this can be done up to 3 days in advance, so says the magazine, I just did it about ten to fifteen minutes before prepping the other ingredients. It really wasn't that hard. Also. check out my peeling! Not bad for someone who has never peeled a potato before huh?

To be honest, I didn't roast them, my mom and I boiled them (at least that's what I think we did ??) I'll get confirmation from her. Mash them up when they are soft enough and put aside.

While the sweet potatoes were cooking in the pot, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. After that, break out the electric mixer. For me, this was big moment. I have been waiting forever to use my mom's Kitchen Aid thing. Seriously, this thing is underused at home. Just looking at it, you'd never guess that we've had it for at least five years now. Oh well, it means more fun for me!

In a large bowl, beat butter on medium for 30 seconds (or whenever it looks good). Add granulated sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. On low, beat in eggs one at time, stopping to scrape down the edges of the bowl between additions.

Add the mashed sweet potato, milk, and vanilla. Beat on low until combined. Add four mixture to sugar-egg mixture; beat on low, just until combined.

I just want to take a moment to show off one of my holiday presents that my sister got me.
 Isn't it cute! She tried to keep it a secret from me, but when I pressured her for a hint, she said it was something that I didn't have but definitely could use. At first, I thought she meant that she had bought me another pair of jeans (I can always use more jeans) but considering the many pairs of jeans I already had, that was probably not what it was. Also, I went online to see just what the store where she bought it sold. When I saw the prices, I become a bit concerned, some of the merchandize was really expensive. Then, the next morning, I woke up with the idea that it was an apron. Why not? Considering all the baking that I do, you could say that needed one, and I didn't own one. Dana was quite mad that figured it out. I for one think that it's a great present and really love it. I look forward to all the baking I will do while wearing it!

Filled your prepared muffin cups about 2/3 full batter. While the recipe said the recipe would make 24 cupcakes, I ran out of the normal sized baking cups and had to use jumbo sized ones. This threw off some things, I ended up with only 22 cupcakes. Bake them for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, remove from the oven and gently press one kiss into the center of each cupcake -tips pointing up. Return to the oven and bake for 14 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test and the tops spring back when touched. Coll in pan for 10 minutes, remove and let coll completely on wire rack. Just a bit about the chocolate kisses. The recipe places special emphasis on the fact that they should be unwrapped. You wanna know my initial response when I read that? Duh! Why would anyone put an wrapped piece of chocolate into a baked good? Are there people out there that would actually do that unless told otherwise? Apparently there are enough out there that it warranted a warning from BH&G

Ta-daa!  Not only did they look good, but they tasted delicious as well. My family has repeatably told me that these were best cupcakes that I have ever made :) Give the recipe a try; its really easy! Personally, I don't think they needed the frosting since that would have made them way too rich for my liking.


But if you're curious about the frosting...

1. In medium saucepan over low heat, bring an inch of water to simmering. Place chopped milk and semisweet chocolate in medium bowl and place over saucepan. With rubber spatula stir until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and coll for 15 minutes. With an electric mixture on low, beat chocolate for 30 seconds. Beat in butter 1 to 2 table spoons at a time. Add sugar, beat until smooth. Spread over tops.

Total Overhaul

I think I have made it a tradition to post something than disappear into the background for a few weeks. Well, lets be honest here: being a college student with many responsibilities and what-not makes blogging a pretty hard hobby to stick too. Don't get me wrong, I want to stick with it. Its just difficult to do so. :(

Now, I  have come a long way since I began my blog this past summer. I can not honestly say that I can bake nearly anything without having to worry about setting something on fire; I have been told numerous times by co-workers at my job to not tell my boyfriend I bake until after we're married, which I think is a compliment. And lastly, I have really grown to appreciate all the wonderful cooks and bakers out here on the internet. To have the time to sit down and type, let alone the time in the kitchen is something that I seriously understated. I wish I could be like the bloggers that I follow, to be able to spend time once, or even multiple times per week to share my thoughts and my baking adventures. I however must confess to my inability to do so. Though I'm sure the people who have been where I have been understand, being a college student is pretty time consuming. And yet, I am still determined to stick with my blog!

This brings me to the meaning behind the title; total overhaul. Indeed, I am putting into affect a change (once again) to the format of my blog. I still bake at school, in fact, I just mastered the art of making a gingerbread cake! I also want to talk about the food at my school, and my experiences using the cookbooks that I have purchased ('cause there has been many). Fortunately, I am on break right now so I can bake and cook to my heart's delight. In fact, I just made latkas on Tuesday night for the first time. And coming up soon, sweet patato cupcakes with chocolate filling -yum! So for the few out there who still read my blog, be prepared for some changes. There will still be cupcakes; but there is also going to be other things. I have decided that I really want to learn to cook so I am taking the time that I have to do so. In fact, I just purchased myself a copy of America's Test Kitchen's cookbook (the red one), and cannot wait for it to arrive. I have ready fantastic reviews about it and can truly say that its a great beginner cookbook for those just starting out. Many reviewers cite it as an awesome reference book.

Well, I think this is enough for now. Let it all sink in. Stay tuned for more!

Until next time,
Jill