Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream

As you will soon see, these cupcakes had a Valentine's theme. Too bad they are just now getting proper blog recognition! Anyhow, for my first carrot cake attempt I really liked this recipe. And the dulce de leche buttercream...amazing.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart via Joy the Baker

Makes about 28 cupcakes (a lot!)

• 4 cups peeled and finely grated carrots
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together carrots, eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla seeds, and coconut, pineapple and nuts if desired. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.
2. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until testers inserted into centers come out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks, 10 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto wire racks, and let cool completely. Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen for up to 2 months in airtight containers.
3. Frost cupcakes with dulce de leche or cream cheese frosting.

Dulce de Leche Buttercream

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup prepared dulce de leche

Cream together softened butter and powdered sugar on low using an electric mixer. Add cream and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth and no lumps appear. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the prepared dulce de leche and beat to incorporate. Frost cooled cupcakes using a knife or a pastry bag and tip.

Rainbow Birthday Cake

My cousins Allison and Amy have birthdays 2 days apart. They asked me to make their cake. Amy wanted chocolate cake, Allison wanted vanilla. They did agree on light blue frosting.

So I kept it simple.

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but only on the outside!

I used Magnolia's Birthday Cake recipe with Cream Cheese Icing.

And it was reallllly good.

I'm way behind on my baking posts.

In the mean time, here is a lovely cake topper!

@ togetherforever on Etsy

Hurry!

Find some Nutella fast...it's World Nutlella Day!

Nutella is more than just a “chocolaty hazelnut spread,” it is a way of life.

ha!

Here are some quick ideas:

Nutella Croissants

Nutella Brownies

Nutella Banana Crepes

Gender Neutral Baby Shower Cake: For Sale!

Update! The cake has been resold to it's original buyer and will be enjoyed by many teachers on the first day back to school in nearly a week.

For Sale:

Listen to this:

Two weeks ago I was asked to make a cake for a co-worker's baby shower. She doesn't know what she is having so I was slightly perplexed at how to go about making a gender neutral baby shower cake. I probably looked through 1,000 photos on Cake Central before finally deciding on an idea: a slightly boyish pattern on the bottom tier and a more girly pattern on the top tier. It's been since the summer since I took on such a cake and had the entire weekend (+ 3 snow days) to work on it. The shower was originally supposed to be on Monday but was postponed to Thursday (tomorrow) since we were out because of the snow/ice. Since I hate dried out cake I waited as long as I could to make it and have been working on it off and on yesterday and today.

Tonight I finished it up and was happy to be done before 10:00. I was thinking of getting ready for bed and worry about how I was going to get it to work in the morning. Then...I decided to check my work e-mail. As of 9:00 p.m., the baby shower has been postponed again...UNTIL THE BABY IS BORN!!!!!!!

This cake isn't going to wait around for that!!!!

Now, what to do for my gender neutral baby shower cake that I was going to get $30 for? Will I still get that $30?!?!?

I'm planning on finding out that soon, but in the meantime, if you are in need of a cake (and a lot of it!) feel free to take it off my hands! Well, not "free" but maybe at a reduced price.

Easy to assemble!

Beatty's Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream!

Homemade Marshmallow Fondant!

Since it's "gender neutral" it'll work for any occasion!

This makes my life

The last time I had a Nutella and banana crepe was at some music thing in downtown Raleigh early last summer. I'm pretty sure my friends thought Rachel and I were crazy as we joyfully shared a crepe together with our diet cokes.

Tonight I went to the newest Salisbury eatery, Palm's Cafe, for my dad's birthday. They had a humongous menu but what immediately caught my eye on the chalkboard menu was Nutella and Banana crepes. It's a Salisbury first I'm pretty sure. And also they have Nutella and Banana waffles. I'm not usually a breakfast out kinda girl but I'm going to have to have this in the very near future.

pic via five months in Paris

Brownie Pudding

Brownie Pudding. Brownies and pudding. All in one. Brownie Pudding.

It tasted as amazing as it sounds. I'm sure if you don't have vanilla beans you can substitute vanilla extract. And make sure you have a really large glass of milk nearby.

Brownie Pudding

~Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish

4 extra large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup good cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean

1 tablespoon framboise liqueur, optional

vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) oval baking dish. Melt the 1/2 pound of butter and set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and flour together and set aside. When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla seeds, framboise, if using, and the cocoa powder and flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.

Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding.

Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.