Happy Birthday To My Hubby!

Bobby's birthday was this past weekend, the big 3-2. This is the cake that I made him... I hope you appreciate the Instagram filter and disregard the beaten up paint in the background. We're in the midst of a bit of a kitchen overhaul (check out those new butcher block countertops!) and we haven't started putting up the backsplash tile yet. But, we got the call that they're in, so hopefully that phase will start soon. But, I digress... back to my "old" husband and his recent birthday.

Bobby's favorite cake is carrot cake (it's also my favorite, further proof that we're a match made in heaven), therefore, I baked him a carrot cake for his birthday. At the moment we're currently working hard at becoming supreme physical specimens (we're doing CrossFit and training for a 10-mile run that's in May) I knew he wouldn't want a giant birthday cake like I've made him in the past since we're trying to eat healthy (key word is trying). But, I wanted to make something for him for his birthday. Since it was just going to be the two of us I decided that a small 6-inch cake would be perfect. And, with the rest of the batter I knew I would have, I would just make cupcakes and take them to work, or give them away so they wouldn't go to waste.

The carrot cake recipe I always use is one that I received from my mom, who got it from a former co-worker of hers. It's the best recipe I've found to date and I always use it when I make carrot cake. I also always use cream cheese frosting for carrot cake because in my opinion that's the only kind of frosting one should use when making carrot cake. The recipe I use for cream cheese frosting is from Paula Dean. Yes, that Paula Dean. I first discovered it when using her recipe to make red velvet cupcakes and I've been using it ever since.

The carrot cake is very simple to make (I'll include the recipe below). I just throw all the ingredients in my stand mixer and then let it work for about two minutes blending everything together. I used 3 cups of batter for the 6-inch cake. I baked it at 350 for about 50 minutes. I have found with this recipe that the cake doesn't rise very much, which is nice because I often don't have to do much cutting to get a flat surface when I'm ready to frost the cake. With the extra batter I made cupcakes, I think I got roughly twenty. I baked those at 350 for 20 minutes, turning them halfway through the total baking time.

Going into making this cake I really didn't have an idea of what I wanted to do. In the past I've made Bobby some fancier cakes, but they were quite large. Since I knew I wanted to make a small cake, I felt pretty limited as to what I could do with it, but I wanted to make it special in some way without having to do too much work.

Finally I came up with the idea that's pictured above. I knew I had everything that I needed on hand and the birthday banner probably took me 10 minutes max to put together. I used pieces of card stock from my scrap pack that I have on hand. I highly recommend the scrap pack. It's great, you'd be amazed at how many things scraps of various colors and sizes of card stock can be good for. I think I bought mine at Michaels, but I'm sure you can find one at any craft store.

I grabbed five different colors from the scrap pack and started cutting out little triangles. I did it all freehand because it didn't need to be perfect. Once I had the number of triangles that I needed I arranged them in the color order that I wanted and wrote out a letter on each one with a thin Sharpie. I cut two lengths of red string that I also had on hand and attached the triangles to the string with small pieces of scotch tape. I had some wooden skewers on hand so I decided to use those as my posts since I couldn't think of anything better. Straws would probably work as well, but I didn't have any. The skewers were a little longer than I needed so I just cut them with scissors to make them a little shorter. The hardest part of the whole process was tying the strings to the skewers so they would stay in place and be the appropriate length. It was a trial and error process, but it only took a couple of attempts before I got it right. I've always wanted to try something like this with a cake, and I think it turned out to be a success. I was really happy with how it looked, especially for throwing it all together in just a few minutes. Most importantly, the birthday boy said he liked it and the cake was delicious!

Carrot Cake

2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. salad oil
2 c. grated carrots
1 c. well drained crushed pineapple
5 eggs
1 1/2 chopped nuts
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda

Put all ingredients in a large bowl, except nuts, and beat 2 minutes by hand (I don't use nuts because I don't like them, and I also beat everything with a stand mixer, but you could probably use a hand mixer as well).

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes in 9x13 pan.

If you want to you can vary your pan size, you'll just need to adjust your baking time. These are just the instructions I got with the recipe. I have made this recipe with 6-inch and 8-inch cake pans. I've also made cupcakes with this recipe. I just alter the baking time, however I always bake at 350 degrees.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb cream cheese
1 c. butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. confectioner's sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase speed to high, mix until light and fluffy.

What's Up, Dr. Seuss?

The holidays are over and I'm still exhausted, you? No matter how much time I have off, this year I was fortunate enough to have 4 days (win!), I'm always tired afterward. I don't know if it's the travel, all the holiday preparations (baking, shopping, etc.) or just that I'm getting older (ah!), but, I'm pooped. I need a vacation. As always this holiday season I was busy baking, but had all of my Christmas baking done about a week before C-Day so I could get all my cookie gifts put together and distributed before the holiday. Normally once I'm done with Christmas baking I'm done for the year. I like to give myself a little baking vacation since getting ready for Christmas is so much work. However, this year, I got a very special baking request that was due two days before Christmas. Although I knew it would be a busy time, I'm not one to turn down a friend, or the opportunity to make a little extra cash. I did do a lot of Christmas shopping this year!

A co-worker of mine asked me to make birthday cakes and cupcakes for his 3 children. They all have birthdays within a week of each other. The kicker is they're all the same week as Christmas give or take a day or two. Pretty amazing planning if you ask me. They were planning a party for December 23 and asked me for three 6-inch cakes and 40 cupcakes with a Dr. Seuss theme. They sent me all the specifics, chocolate cakes with vanilla buttercream, 20 chocolate and 20 red velvet cupcakes, as well as some details of what they were thinking for each cake. Cat in the Hat, Lorax and One Fish, Two Fish. With their suggestions and the help of Google, I mapped out my ideas and was ready to get to work.

I used the same trusty chocolate cake recipe I use every time someone asks for chocolate cake. It's my favorite and so far it's been a success. I made the cupcakes first, starting with the red velvet. Since everything else was going to be chocolate, I wanted to get the odd flavor out, out of the way. For the red velvet, I used this recipe from the lovely Paula Deen. I've used this recipe several times before and have always had great results with it. Plus, I love Paula. Who doesn't? I'm talking to you Anthony Bourdain. Once the red velvet batter was ready I baked 12 cupcakes at a time, thankfully I have 2 cupcake pans which made this process go much faster.

While the red velvet cupcakes were baking I started on the chocolate cake batter. I made a double batch of the chocolate cake thinking that at the very least it would get me 20 cupcakes and maybe one 6-inch cake, and it did. If memory serves me correctly, I even had a little batter left over. Once the red velvet cupcakes were done the chocolate cupcakes went into the oven. I did the cupcakes first because they have a shorter baking time than the cakes and this way the batter would sit out for the shortest amount of time possible.

Once the chocolate cupcakes were set I made a single batch of the chocolate cake batter for the remaining two 6-inch cakes. I had more than enough batter overall and ended up getting a couple extra cupcakes that I took into work the next day to get rid of. Each cake took about 50 minutes to bake, so it was a lot of waiting, but it didn't matter. While everything was baking I worked on making the fondant. I made 4 colors (white, yellow, red and orange) and ended up having way more than I needed. But, I'd rather have too much, than not enough. After Day 1 of cake making, I had 3 cakes, 40+ cupcakes, and 4 colors of fondant ready to go for Day 2.

On Day 2 I started working as soon as I got up because I wanted to be done as soon as possible. Day 2 took much longer than I thought it would. I knew it would take awhile, but I didn't think it would take as long as it did. I think I worked from 10a-4p give or take a half an hour. When you add that to the 5 hours of baking and fondant making the day before, it's a lot. Maybe I'm still tired from all of that?

So, Day 2, or decorating day started with making all the frosting. First, I made the cream cheese frosting for the red velvet cupcakes. I only needed one batch of that, and again, it was the odd man out so I wanted to get it out of the way. Everything else was going to be vanilla buttercream. To frost the cupcakes I used my icing gun with a star tip to make them look nice, and I bought a rainbow assortment of sprinkles. I thought bold colors were the most appropriate for Dr. Seuss. I also bought bold colored Wilton wrappers for the cupcakes. I was going for fun and kid friendly.

After the red velvet cupcakes were set I started on the vanilla buttercream frosting. I ended up making 2 double batches (I should mention, I used my stand mixer for everything, other than the fondant, for this entire project) just to make sure I would have enough. I had more than enough. I probably could have gotten away with 1 1/2 batches. Live and learn.

I frosted the cupcakes first employing the same method I did for the red velvet cupcakes. I wanted everything to be consistent. Once the cupcakes were all set and tucked into their respective boxes I went to work on frosting the cakes. I like to put the cakes in the fridge before I frost them because it makes it easier and helps to minimize the crumbs. The crumb layer is already a pain, but I like to make it as painless as possible. After each crumb layer I returned the cakes to the fridge so the icing could firm up a little and make the second layer easier to apply so everything would be smooth. After the icing of the first cake had set, I started working on the fondant for it. Cake number 1 was Cat in the Hat.

This was the hardest design for me to come up with because to me Cat in the Hat is so simple. There's not really much to do with it other than the obvious. I new I wanted to portray the hat somehow, but I also knew I didn't have the skill to make anything look like the cat. Working with only one layer also limited what I could do. They had suggested kites and perhaps adding some blue polka dots so I tried to work in all three of those elements.

Here's what I came up with. While it is plain, I was ultimately pretty happy with it. It wasn't my favorite of the bunch, but I thought it was cute and fit the criteria.

Cake number 2 was The Lorax. They sent me suggestions for colors, green, orange and truffula (I think I spelled that right) trees. I confess, I knew what the Lorax was, but I had to Google truffula trees, I had no idea what they were. It's been more than a couple years since my Dr. Seuss days, and since I don't have any kids yet, I don't feel that I should know what they are. After my Google searching I knew what I wanted to do. This design was actually the easiest for me to come up with, so it would obviously be the one that took the most time to execute. I knew I wanted to do the face of the Lorax on the top and on the sides I would do truffula trees going around.

It took forever, but this was the cake I was the most proud of and was the most work. I think if I were to do this one again I would add some outlines, but truth be told, I was already tired and I still had one cake left to go.

Cake number 3 was One Fish, Two Fish. One Fish, Two Fish I am familiar with and didn't need to do any Google search to know what I was dealing with, but I did just for research purposes. I also came up with the design I wanted for this one pretty quickly as well. I also took the time to print out shapes of the fish so I could cut them out of fondant and put then on the cake. That little dream didn't come true. After several failed attempts to "trace" and cut the fish out of fondant, I gave up. I either don't have the right tools, or this is just something that can't be done. For a few minutes I panicked because I didn't know what I was going to do. I couldn't have a One Fish, Two Fish cake with no fish. That wasn't going to work. I also knew that I wasn't going to be successful at cutting out the fish and if they didn't look like the actual fish the cake was going to look stupid. Then a little light bulb went off and I thought, why not just "glue" the fish I cut out onto the cake? Sure, it's not cake, but, it will look much better than anything I'm going to be able to figure out. And, just to clear things up, my glue, was frosting.

Honestly, I loved it. I felt a little bit like a cheated because it wasn't all edible, but at the same time, I couldn't argue with how great it looked and I knew that no matter what I tried to do, it wasn't going to look nearly as good as anything else I was going to come up with. And, overall, the client and the kids were happy, which is all that really matters.

As always, there is a lesson I take away from each of my experiences in baking for a "client" and in this case it was that no matter how much I plan out my designs and what I want to do, there is always going to be something that isn't going to work as I envisioned it would. But, don't panic, just take a breath, use your brain and try to come up with a solution. I was truly in a panic about One Fish, Two Fish. On the brink of considering a small cry in frustration fest, but I got it together and figured out something that would work. Go me, and may your 2013 bring you moments of enlightenment as well.

Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes

My earliest memory of zucchini is from my very early childhood when I used to go to my babysitters, and for lunch one day we had to eat raw zucchini. Of course, we were given other, more delicious food during that meal, but all I remember is the zucchini and how I wanted to gag when I had to eat it. Lovely visual I provided for you. Needless to say from that point on, I have had no interest in eating zucchini... raw, cooked or otherwise. About a year ago I tried zucchini bread for the first time, hesitantly of course, and I have to say, it was very good. So, when it came time to make zucchini-spice cupcakes I figured they had a chance of being tasty.

I was not expecting it to be so difficult to find zucchini. I figured it'd be right there next to the cucumbers or squash and that would be that. I was wrong... kind of. I made several passes through the produce department trying to find zucchini with no luck. There were several kinds of cucumbers, there was yellow squash and green squash, but no zucchini. Stop and Shop failed me... not the first time. The other grocery store in town, Price Chopper is less than 5 minutes down the road so I decided to make a stop there to see if they'd have any zucchini. I figured at the very least I could get a loaf of bread that they sell, that I really like and haven't had in awhile because I don't normally shop there anymore (Stop and Shop is closer). Again, I stalked the produce department with no luck. Nothing was labeled zucchini, but I was becoming suspicious of the "green squash" that looked an awful lot like zucchini. Then I thought maybe the freezer section would have frozen zucchini, and while not ideal, could still work. No luck.

It was then I decided I would give the produce department one last try, but before I did I was going to use my trusty iPhone and do a little Google research to see if there was another name for zucchini that may be living in the produce department. I didn't find that much that I didn't already know. So, as a last-ditch effort I mustered up all my courage and decided to just ask an employee of the store. I honed in on a nice young gentleman and asked him if the store had any zucchini because I wasn't having any luck finding it. He said yes (wahoo!) and led me to the zucchini a.k.a. green squash. I still wasn't completely convinced that this was the right thing, but I wasn't going to drive 20 minutes to Whole Foods and I wanted to make the cupcakes today. I grabbed 2 "zucchini" and headed to the checkout line.

This is the most efficient I have been with a recipe to date. I read through all the ingredients and the steps to make sure I had all the prep work done before I got started so I knew what I was in for. First, I grated the zucchini using my food processor. The recipe calls for 3 cups of grated zucchini and I came up just shy of 3 cups. I didn't care. I wasn't making another trip to the store. If I was a little short, I was a little short. Once the zucchini was grated I started preheating the oven so I could toast the walnuts. I figured by the time the oven was warmed up and the walnuts toasted I would be ready to fold the walnuts into the batter... and I was! Go me.

While I was pouring the batter from the mixing bowl into a large measuring cup (if the batter is more liquidy I like to pour it into the cupcake pan from my large glass measuring cup, it's less of a mess) I spotted some larger chunks of not-so-grated zucchini and pulled them out. I didn't want someone to bite into a cupcake and get a chunk of zucchini. I know these are zucchini cupcakes, but they're not supposed to be chunky zucchini cupcakes.

I baked the cupcakes for 20 minutes, rotating them halfway through the total baking time and they came out perfect. Naturally I gave one taste test soon after it came out of the oven and they were good. It turns out green squash and zucchini are the same thing, or at the very least they can be interchanged. I'm still not really sure. All I know is the cupcakes turned out to be delicious. The only thing I would change if I ever make them again is the walnuts. I would choose to omit them the second time around. They're not terrible, I just know I would enjoy the cupcake more without them. The cream cheese frosting I have made before to accompany these carrot cupcakes and while it is delicious, it still didn't help to mask the taste of the walnuts.

Recently I've started sharing the cupcakes I've been making with our neighbors (in addition to co-workers) because I figure it's a nice neighborly thing to do and you never know when you might need a favor. Plus, these particular neighbors are very good to us. I had taken them a few cupcakes for their family, and a couple days later the wife, Diane, came over with 2 huge zucchinis in her hands and asked if I'd like them to cook or bake with since I had just made the zucchini cupcakes. I said sure, thanked her and told her I'd make her some zucchini bread in the not-too-distant future. In my head I was thinking where were these bad boys 2 days ago when I was driving all over town looking for zucchini! Only in my world do things like this happen. But now, if I ever need it, I've got a whole freezer-sized Ziploc bag full of grated zucchini waiting for me in the freezer.

Carrots Aren't Just for Bunnies

Since I bake so much, everyone always asks me what my favorite dessert is. Without hesitating, my answer is always carrot cake. I love it. No, I adore it. It's delicious... and, it's good for you! It has carrots in it after all. Those are vegetables. I suppose carrots lose some of their nutritional integrity when you throw some oil, sugar and cream cheese icing into the mix. But, it does make them much more delicious.

Confession, I really didn't want to make this recipe because I have a go-to recipe for carrot cake. I've been using it for years, since I was a kid, and I haven't found anything that I like better. While Martha is wonderful, I didn't think I'd like her version better than my own. I was right. However, these cupcakes were still quite tasty, and my co-workers gobbled them up.

Another confession, I didn't follow this recipe exactly as Martha intended. I know, I know, already breaking my own rules and we're only on cupcake number 2. But, this Carrot Cake Cupcakes recipe called for some toasted coconut to garnish the cupcakes after they were iced. As much as I love carrot cake, I detest flaked coconut. I just don't like it. If it's on top of something and I can't pick it off, I won't eat it. I don't mind the flavor of coconut, I just don't like the flakes. So, I decided to take some artistic license with the recipe and eliminate the coconut garnish. I think Martha would understand... I hope.

I've learned that some people stray away from making carrot cake because it seems daunting due to the amounts of grated carrots necessary for the recipe. One pound of carrots is a lot. Especially if you're grating them by hand. Please don't exert that much energy. Get yourself a food processor and you'll have a pound of grated carrots in no time and the hardest part will be over. You don't even need to use a hand mixer for this recipe. All you need is a whisk and a spoon!

I followed the instructions and filled my paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full and also rotated them halfway through the baking process. The recipe said to bake for 23-28 minutes. You know my rule, I never go to the baking max on my first run, because to my knowledge, you can't un-bake a cupcake. So for the first run I started with 12 minutes, rotated and baked 12 more minutes. For the second run I went the full 14 minutes, rotated and baked 14 more minutes. It was perfect. Toothpick inserted came out clean.

Finally, the best part of any carrot cake, other than those nutritional veggies, is the cream cheese frosting. I also have my own cream cheese frosting recipe that I like to pair with my carrot cake. But, this project isn't about me, it's about Martha. So, I went with her and did as she would do. In not so shocking fashion her Cream Cheese Frosting turned out just as good as mine did. That Martha really knows what she's doing. As per Martha's photographic example I kept my icing gun in the cupboard (much to my disappointment) and just used a knife to ice the cupcakes. Unlike Martha's photographic example and as previously discussed I did not include the coconut garnish. You already know carrot cake is my favorite and I wanted to eat a cupcake, and I wanted to eat one sans coconut. It was y-u-m-m-y in my t-u-m-m-y.