Carrot Cupcakes

A friend of mine had asked me for a favour. He needed to do a cake for his friend's birthday. After some discussion, I recommended that we do a batch of carrot cupcakes, using my trusty Rachel Allen's Carrot Cake recipe which never fails to yield the most tender, fluffy and flavourful cupcakes. 

According to him, these carrot cupcakes were sweeter and not as spicy as compared to the ones found in Cedele. From my recent maiden experience with Cedele's carrot cake, I found that Cedele's carrot cake is actually less spicy in taste, making me wonder if there is actually something wrong with his tastebuds or if the problem lies with mine. I could only sense a faint hint of cinnamon in Cedele's version. For Rachel Allens's carrot cake, it uses ground nutmeg and mixed spice in addition to cinnamon. I also believe that Cedele's carrot cakes are baked using white sugar whereas these carrot cupcakes are baked using brown sugar, hence the colour disparity between the two.

Frosting wise, Cedele's cream cheese frosting is purely vanilla flavoured and has a firm cheesecake-like texture. On the other hand, Rachel Allen's cream cheese frosting has a vibrant character due to the marriage of flavours attributed by vanilla and orange zest and the texture is smooth and less firm (because I cut down on icing sugar). 

While doing the cream cheese frosting, I noticed that different brands of cream cheese do play a part in determining the texture. Using Elle & Vire cream cheese, the frosting turned out to be fluffier, softer, smoother and it was a breeze piping swirls with it on the cupcakes. Phoon Huat's cream cheese seemed to produce a firmer frosting frosting which is less smooth and did not look like it will pipe well into swirls. 

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting ( recipe adapted from Bake by Rachel Allen)
Taste and Texture: Moderately-spicy, moist, fluffy and chunky with moist plump raisins and crunchy walnuts.
Serving size: about 10 cupcakes

Making the carrot cupcakes:

Baking the cupcakes - Follow the recipe and directions in Carrot Cake. Instead of baking the batter in a loaf tin, spoon the batter into a standard muffin tin lined with cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes at 180 degrees C for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Decorating the cupakes - Spoon cream cheese frosting into a piping bag attached with a large star tip. Pipe swirls of cream cheese frosting onto the cupcakes in a circular fashion to create rosettes.

Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

The American Carrot Cake is one cake that I hardly have any encounters with. One reason could be that it is not a staple cake in conventional bakeries and it is more commonly found in western style coffee chains like Starbucks or Coffee Bean. Once, I had a serving of it at a hotel buffet and I was immediately drawn to its spicy taste accompanied with cream cream frosting that is signature of carrot cakes. 

Flipping through and comparing my recipes, I decided that the carrot cake by Rachel Allen is the more authentic one, using a combination of mixed spice, nutmeg and cinnamon. My other recipes had cinnamon as the sole spice ingredient. 

While I was reading and following the instructions, one particular matter caught my attention. The method of mixing is in fact the conventional mix-dry-wet ingredients muffin method. Being cautious, I made sure not to over-mix the ingredients, ensuring that the mixing stops once the dry ingredients were moistened. Apart from the tedious process of grating the carrots, this is one very simple cake to make. To my amazement, the outcome was a fluffy, moist and pleasantly spiced cake with moist plump raisins and chunky walnuts, topped with a refreshing citrusy orange cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese frosting is one delightful icing on the cake, with vanilla added to accentuate the orange flavour. 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe adapted from Bake from Rachel Allen)

Taste and Texture: Mild-spicy, moist, fluffy and chunky with moist plump raisins and crunchy walnuts.
Serving size: 8-10 slices, Makes a 9 x 5 inch loaf
Equipment and Materials:

• 9 x 5 inch loaf tin
• Baking paper
• Grater
• Mixing bowls
• Wire whisk
• Handheld beater/ stand beater

Ingredients:

• 110g whole eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
• 150ml vegetable oil
• 185g brown sugar
• 280g carrot, finely grated
• 90g raisins
• 90g walnuts, chopped
• 190g self-raising flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon, ground
• 1 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated (I omitted this)
• 1 tsp mixed spice

Making the carrot cake:

Prepare loaf tin and oven - Line a loaf tin with baking paper and preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 

Mixing dry ingredients - Sift flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice into a large mixing bowl. Use a wire whisk to whisk the mixture until it is evenly distributed. 

Preparing wet mixture - In a mixing bowl, add  in the eggs, oil, sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped walnuts and mix well with a large spoon. 

Adding dry ingredients to wet mixture - Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and very gently stir the mixture with a spoon until dry ingredients are moistened (the last bit of dry ingredients disappear). Batter will be very watery. 

Baking the cake - Pour prepared batter into prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hour at 180degrees C, or until a cake tester/ wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Allow cake to cool in the loaf tin for 15 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Orange cream cheese frosting:

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 50g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g icing sugar ( add more if desired)
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Making cream cheese frosting:

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter to combine. Beat in icing sugar until it is incorporated and mixture is smooth. Lastly, add in the vanilla extract and orange zest beat well to obtain a smooth frosting. Spread cream cheese frosting over the top of the carrot cake. 

Notes:

1. Add more icing sugar to stiffen the frosting or add some milk/orange juice to thin out the frosting according to desired consistency. 
2. You can omit the raisins and use chopped pecans instead for a nutty carrot cake.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Bananas about Cookies

It's a hit again. So far the score is 4-1, hits verus misses wise. I'm glad my copy of Martha Stewart's Cookies worked its charm with this banana walnut chocolate chip cookies. Other than using over-riped bananas solely for banana breads/cakes, there is a new option for me now.  

There is something about this cookie. It isn't quite the usual cookie that one would expect. Most of the time, I'm expecting cookies to be either chewy, crunchy, sandy, crumbly or perhaps sometimes cakey. This cookie doesn't fit the bill and it is more like soft and moist bite-sized banana bread/muffin.

My younger brother isn't used to this kind of texture but Stephanie says its good, tasting like cookies from Pepperidge. For me, I would give the thumbs up! Glad I discovered a different kind of cookie.

I will be submitting this entry to this month's Aspiring Bakers # 5 - Fruity March.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies (Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies)
Serving size: 36 - 40 cookies
Taste and texture: Mini, moist banana bread-like cookies with a oaty-nutty taste.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Fork
8) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
9) Baking / parchment paper

Ingredients:
240g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
160g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
75g castor sugar
75g brown sugar
50g whole egg, lightly beatened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
160g mashed, very ripe/over-riped bananas
85g rolled oats
175g chocolate chips or coarsely chopped semiweet chocolate
75g chopped walnuts, toasted

Making the Cookies:
Preheat oven - Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.

Toasting the walnuts - Toast walnuts at 190 degrees C for about 10 minutes to bring out its fragrance. Set walnuts aside to cool.

Mix dry ingredients - Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a mixing bowl. Stir with a balloon whisk to distribute them evenly.

Cream butter - Beat the butter with both sugars on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is fluffy. Volume of butter-sugar mixture should increase noticeably.

Making the cookie dough - Add in beaten egg and vanilla to creamed butter mixture. Beat until well combined. Next, stir in flour mixture and beat on low speed briefly until flour disappears. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl well with a spatula.

Mash bananas using a fork. Fold in the mashed bananas to the flour-butter batter and mix well. Lastly, mix in the oats, chocolate chips and chopped walnuts with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Baking the cookies - Place heaped tablespoons of dough onto baking trays lined with baking/parchment paper, leaving some space (about 1.5 inch) between each cookie and bake for 12-13 minutes at 190 degrees C. Allow cookies to cool for about 3-5 minutes on tray before transferring to wire rack. When cookies have cooled completely, store them in air-tight containers.

Notes:
1) For a nuttier aroma, substitute 80g of plain flour with whole wheat flour.
2) Cookies are meant to be muffin/bread like. If baked slightly longer, the cookies will just turn out dry and would not be crunchy.