Red Velvet Cuppycakes

I made some red velvet cuppycakes from scratch yesterday. I have been wanting to make them for a while now....and since my friend Alaina and her husband were coming back in town, I thought I'd make some up for them!

I used Paula Deen's recipe from food network for my first go round.

They were really yummy...and even though I only had 1 ounce of red food coloring when it called for 2 ounces, it still tasted fabulous...maybe they weren't as RED as they shoudl have been, in fact they were almost a deep hot pink instead. But if that's the only downfall to this trial...so be it! I think these cuppycakes rocked! They rocked SO MUCH, that i had to send them to work with my husband today so that I wouldn't eat them all up!

I did send some home with Alaina when she stopped by last night on her way home from the airport to pick up her little Chaquita...who I picked up from the airport earlier since she came in on an earlier flight! My kids were so excited she was staying at out house for a few hours. They love her to death.

Here she is resting on the cushion of our couch... poor little thing was jetlagged! Ha Ha!

TWD #2 Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

For my second week with Tuesdays with Dorie, the recipe was Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake chosen by Caitlin of http://engineerbaker.blogspot.com/

I have to admit that when I first saw the recipe for this week, I turned up my nose...it sure didn't appeal to me at all. So I wasn't planning on participating. My husband had just gotten home Thursday, and we were busy having family time...but Monday night I had to run to the store to get milk, and decided that if I could find figs, I'd give it a try. Sure enough, there were the figs, so I grabbed the ricotta cheese and went home.

I have never bought or even eaten figs before so this was me taking a leap of faith....trying something new!

I didn't have any fluted pans, so I just used a 10 inch springform pan.

When the cake was in the oven it really smelled delicious, much to my surprise! Even though I had read all the comments about it being too sweet and some people cutting out some sugar, I went ahead and followed the recipe..minus the butter on top. I have a sweet tooth, and decided that I'd decide if it were too sweet.

The texture threw me for a loop when I inserted the knife to check for doneness. It was more spongey than I was expecting. It probably isn't the most attractive cake due to using the springform pan, but I was happy it even turned out decent!

I wasn't even sure where to begin on decorating it...so I just sprinkled some powdered sugar on it and tossed a few figs on top for a 'garnish' and called it good. I added a dollop of whip cream on my first piece of polenta and ricotta cake. It tasted to me like a sweet cornbread. I didn't care for the figs, but liked how the Lite Whip Cream balanced out all the sweet flavors. My husband even had a bite and gave it a thumbs up. He was sleeping on the couch with our son when I woke him to try it, so I don't know if he was too tired to really give me an honost answer, or if he just said "Mmmm" so that I would leave him alone so he could go back to sleep.

Overall, I was amazed at the end result. I honostly will probably NOT make this again, but I'm proud of myself for trying it out!!!

Little Mermaid Cupcake Cake

Here is a Little Mermaid cupcake cake I made for a gal I know on base. Her daughter was having a pool party so what easier way to have cake then have a cupcake cake! No plates, no knives, no forks...just grab one and go!

I used a plastic Ariel cake topper and just piped on her mermaid tail? (is that what it's called!?)

I was pretty happy with how it turned out...I was sort of dreading having to freehand Ariel, but was so excited when I found I had the topper.

The cupcake cake is made up of 24 marble cake cupcakes and buttercream icing.

Happy Birthday Eilish!

TWD #1 BILL'S BIG (WRINKLE FREE) CARROT CAKE

This week was my very first week joining Tuesday's With Dorie! I was so excited when I first read about this group! I ordered my book and have been stalking the postman for it's arrival! So when I got the recipe, I wanted to make it right away!

So, you might be wondering why the title includes the words "WRINKLE FREE"...well, that would be because I left out the raisins. I'm not a big fan. At least not incorporated in my food. I'll eat raisins plain, but not in my breads, or cake! So there you have it.

Shredding the carrots (organic), I think, was the most time consuming part of the whole recipe, but fun, nonetheless. My son checked in on me from time to time to see if there was anything he could do to help.... but it always seemed like there was a more interesting part in THE BEE MOVIE that he was watching, so he never stuck around for long! He just likes to dump and stir things anyways.

So. I knew i didn't want to make a big 9 inch cake...so I pulled out my 6 inch pans instead. Then I prepped my cupcake pan for the leftovers. (I made 9 cupcakes after filling 2-6 inch pans)
I watched the batter like a hawk and noticed that the middles were sinking as it got close to the end....but I just figured I would cover up the sink hole with some icing!

Which brings me to the next part...the icing. I added a full 4 cups of powdered sugar and still thought the icing was fairly thin. But I didn't want to add any more sugar, so I put it in the fridge for a few minutes before I put it on the cake.

I slathered on a layer of icing between the two 6 inch cakes..with a spinkled layer of coconut for some added flair! Then I iced the entire cake with the rest of the icing, which ended up being the perfect amount after swirling some on my 9 cupcakes. I had big dreams of decorating the cake and making it pretty, but ran out of umph, and mommy time, so i just threw on some coconut flakes and called it good. My kids were ready for some attention, and I was burnt out.

My husband has been gone for two months doing some military training, so I am freezing the cake and we'll cut into it when he gets home this week! He loves him some carrot cake, so I'm anxious to see what he thinks! He will be the true judge!

I hope to have more creativity with next week's recipe! This was so much fun!

Bill's Big Carrot Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.
If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.
Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Gluten Free Banana Nut Muffins

I attempted another gluten free recipe today. I figured that since I had accomplished a cookie recipe, I should try something different. So...I went for muffins. I got this recipe off a blog on here. I really need to start giving credit here but when i look for recipes online, I usually copy and paste them onto a Word document for later reference, and I don't always remember where they came from!

I digress...

So I am very happy with this recipe, although, I was not able to find all the different types of flour it called for, and so I just substituted gluten free all purpose flour for whatever I didn't have.

GLUTEN FREE BANANA NUT MUFFINS

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1/2 cup sorghum flour

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

No need for a mixer with this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.

3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack!

Gluten Free Experiment

Here is the result of my first gluten free recipe experiment....ok, so it's actually my second attempt, but my first recipe failed miserably and was not worth taking a picture of.

I have to admit that for the few ingredients that this little cookie contains, they actually taste pretty darn good! Yay me!

I have more recipes I am dying to try, but since it's late and I should really be taking advantage of this time by cleaning my house, doing my dishes, or even better yet, SLEEPING, I should hold off 'til tomorrow. And I think I'll go for some sleep. Cleaning can wait!

GLUTEN FREE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

·2 cups peanut butter
·2 cups white sugar
·4 eggs, beaten
·2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
·1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheet.

2. Combine peanut butter, eggs, and sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Spoon dough by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes before removing.

My Little Baby Pineapple!

So this really doesn't have anything to do with baking, but I wanted to share it on here.

It's been approximately 18 months since I brought home my "mommy" pineapple from the commissary and ate it.....lopped off the top, let it sit in water a few days before planting it in a pot....and then later planting it outside our house.

I noticed a week or two ago it was starting to sprout a baby!!!! So the other day I saw that it was growing above the plant and thought it was so cute I had to take some pics of it!!!! In a few more weeks I will be able to enjoy this yummy juicy little pineapple! Maybe, just maybe, I can find a great recipe with pineapple in it and take it to the next level!