Snowflake Carrot Cake

So lately I've had several requests for carrot cake, which I've never tried before because I don't really like it. I think it's a texture thing -- the cake is full of stringy carrots and nuts. I really dislike nuts in cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. We should talk about nuts some time. There are great uses for nuts. Chopped and thrown haphazardly into desserts is not one of them. But I digress. Carrot cake!

This carrot cake turned out amazingly moist and perfectly warm with more than a hint of cinnamon and clove. Here's a  peek at the final cake: Snowy and cool on the outside (January needs more appropriately wintery desserts) and warm deliciousness on the inside.

Did I mention that the kicker here, that actually forced me to go for a carrot cake recipe, was that it was our friend Crispy's birthday. Crisp absolutely adores winter/snow/christmas at all times and in all things and in all places. So we went for it!

Here's a shot of one of the six-inch rounds that I stacked  and later layered with the icy blue cream cheese frosting.

Since I had never even attempted a carrot cake, I searched the internet for "best" carrot cakes, and finally landed on Paula Deen's recipe for the best carrot cake cupcakes. The recipe was really easy to follow and (surprise to me) called for crushed pineapple, which I thought sounded absolutely delish. I made a few very slight modifications to the recipe, but overall, I think it's great.

[Below] Process: frosting an orange crumby cake with wintery cream cheese frosting. 

Cooking, but not posting about it here...

Until now! Christmas cupcakes.

Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting!

Harry Potter Cupcakes

Okay, I admit it, I'm a total Harry Potter nerd. Yep. My ringtone? Hedwigs Theme.

Nerd.

So what, like I'm not going to make Harry Potter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and White Chocolate Toppers?

 And I was too excited to go see Harry Potter 7.2 to take any decent pictures of these before they were devoured. They were, by the way, delicious pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting (adapted from Smitten Kitchen's lovely recipe). I added mini chocolate chips, which, if I say so myself, was a pretty

Happy Birthday to Me

Let's just see how big I can get the "cupcake" label in the cloud over here --->

A happy coincidence: A friend ordered a box of red velvet cupcakes the same week of my birthday. And happily, a batch of cupcakes is greater than a box of cupcakes. What to do with the extra cupcakes? Hmmmm. Happy Birthday to me! This time around I used Magnolia Bakery's recipe for the cakes, but played around with the frosting.

Whirly-gig swirly cake

The great thing about being at home, at least for me, is the huge and completely stocked kitchen my mom has. Even better -- she'll usually pick up just about any additional ingredients I need to try something new. I found a picture of a cake that looked sort of like this one if you squint and tilt your head a little, and it was on! Frostinnngg!

Rosy, swirly, whirly cake. This is just a typical chocolate cake. Two layers. Nothing fancy. But the frosting was ahhhmazing for a couple of reasons: 1. Almond extract. I love the stuff, but I can't usually have it because Lito (my better half) is allergic. Meh. 2. Cream cheese. I can't name a single thing that isn't improved by the addition of cream cheese. Think about it: Brownies? Check. Bean dip? Check. Cheesecake? You can see where this is going.

retro-post: cinco de mayo & margarita cupcakes

I grew up in a culture that generally doesn't imbibe much. At all. So I remember the first time when my family vacationed in Mexico, my mom ordered a virgin margarita to enjoy out by the pool (or the pond) and the bartender replied, So you want lemonade? Right?

And maybe he wasn't being snarky. He was probably just making sure he understood that we all wanted fancy drinks with little umbrellas without the complimentary (at that hotel) booze.

So for Cinco de Mayo, in honor of a culturally irreverent/irrelevant gathering at my apartment, I made "virgin" "margarita" cupcakes. Which is code for lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and a twist of lime that made the frosting taste ridiculously good. Look at that lil twist! I'm smacking my lips right now.