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Carrot Cake

At the very last minute, Babycakes and I decided we wanted to take carrot cake to our respective Easter festivities.  We thought it would be cute to try our hand at carving and make the cake carrot shaped as well.  I found a recipe by Paula Deen and decided to give it a try.  BC was unavailable to help with the baking, so I set out on the daunting task of grating the carrots by myself.  It took me nearly an hour to grate all the carrots needed, the whole time I was swearing to myself that I'd never make carrot cake again. (I am probably a much slower grater than normal people.  It took 9 carrots and I took breaks between each.)  The recipe I used had baking instructions to make a 9in round cake.  That was going to work if I wanted to carve my cake to look like a carrot, so I made up my own instructions.  I greased, floured, and used a 13x9 pan lined with parchment paper, set the oven to 350, and set the timer for half an hour and then checked every 5 minutes after that.  The inside was still a little underdone when I pulled it out at the 50 minute mark, but the edges had pulled away from the pan and looked like they might burn if I baked it any longer. I left it in the pan on a cooling rack overnight.  I did put a cover over it when it was still a little warm, which I think attributed to it being so moist the next day.


BC was able to help me the next day with the icing portion.  I let her do all the work on making the icing while I cut the cake diagonally and removed it from the pan.  I spent a long time on the first cake trying to find the perfect triangle shape.  When I got to the second cake I realized if I just cut the correct angle off the top of the cake, I wouldn't have to trim the sides.  We immediately devoured the discarded cake parts.  Wow, so delicious!  When we first thought about carving the cake, we had grand delusions of making it round like a carrot as well, but since we each wanted to take a full cake to our parties, we were left with only one layer each that wasn't thick enough to carve into the round shape.  I think this worked out fine, the cake was so dense that a second layer might have been too much.  


When the icing was done, we set aside about a half a cup and dyed it green for the leaves.  The rest we dyed orange for the carrot.  The icing recipe made plenty to cover both cakes with a little left over.  


I took my cake to brunch at my aunt's house while BC took hers to dinner at her grandmother's.  Both families LOVED the cakes.  Even after being refrigerated for 2 days (we finished baking on Friday) they stayed super moist and fresh.  It was definitely worth all the work grating the carrots and I would definitely try this recipe again! 


CAKE
YOU WILL NEED:

butter for pan
2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2 c. sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 c. grated carrots


PREPARATIONS:


1. Prehead oven to 350 degrees.


2. Grease and flour a 13x9 baking pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  


4. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined.  

5. Mix in carrots. 

6. Pour into pans.  Bake for approximately 50 minutes (We set ours for 30 mins and checked every 5 minutes.   Ours was slightly underdone in the center but that helped keep it super moist when we stored it, you may be able to bake yours longer.)

7.  Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.  Remove from pans, place on wax paper, and allow to cool completely before frosting.  (We left ours in the pan over night with an airtight cover.)

8. If carving to carrot shape, cut the cake in half diagonally.  You can either stack your layers or make two cakes.  The easiest way to make the carrot shape is to cut the flat top of the triangle at the right angle to make an isosceles triangle.   

ICING
YOU WILL NEED:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick salted butter, room temperature
2 c. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract


PREPARATIONS:


1. Add all ingredients into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. 

2. Add food dye and beat until the color is even.  For the green we used 10 drops of green food dye.  For the orange we used 15 drops of red and 15 drops of yellow. 

COVERING TIP:


Line the cake with toothpicks, then cover in aluminum foil.  The toothpicks will give the foil something to rest on without smearing the icing, and using foil instead of plastic wrap will keep it from drooping around the toothpicks.  

Cupcake Poppers

"Cupcakes Make Everything Better" - That's the t-shirt Sweet Cheeks gave me for Christmas last year.  I wore it on my way home from Houston and the TSA agents couldn't agree more.  Sit back and think on that for a moment.  Is there anything cupcakes couldn't make better, even if it's just a little bit?  I am drawing a monumental blank. 

When we decided on what to do for Easter, colorful cupcakes came up.  The idea of making poppers (basically two small cupcakes with icing in the center) seemed even better because they just looked fun.  I was mentally planning my shopping list when I thought that flavored poppers would be even better.  So off to the store I went, and I picked up preserves that coordinated with the colors I planned: raspberry for pink, blueberry for blue, blackberry for purple, and yellow... well they don't really make lemon preserves (at least not in my neck of the woods), so I settled on lemon extract. *I would like to take a moment to warn you that when you use lemon extract, or extract of any kind, that is past the expiration date, they tend to become less extract and more flavored rubbing alcohol. 

My sister came home after I had finished up and she told me that she grabbed one and got really excited when it was flavored like the color.  She said she had to try them all.  I have to agree, you can't just eat one and they are the perfect size for a quick snack.  Then again, if you are like me, one becomes three and then you're no longer hungry for lunch.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did and that they brighten up your Easter baskets!

Babycakes

CUPCAKES

YOU WILL NEED:

1 c. (2 sticks) softened butter

2 c. granulated sugar

4 room temp. eggs (soak cold eggs in bowl of warm water for a few minutes to warm them up)

1 1/2 c. self-rising flour

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

food coloring of your choice

PREPARATIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat the butter until it is fluffy. Add the sugar gradually and mix until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the two flours. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to butter mixture. 

4. In another separate bowl, combine vanilla and milk. Pour 1/2 of milk mixture into butter mixture.  Add another 1/3 of the flour and mix well.  Pour in the remaining milk and vanilla and beat completely.  Finally add the last of the flour mixture and beat until completely incorporated.

5. If you'll be using more than one color, separate the mixture into as many bowls as there are colors. Add the desired amount of food coloring to each bowl.  If you want more vibrant colors, add about 8 drops each.  

6. Grease the bottoms and sides of each cup in a non stick muffin tin.  You will not be using cupcake liners!  

7. Drop a small spoonful into the bottom of each muffin tin.  It should be just a small dollop so that the finished product does not puff up too much. For a tye dyed look, use half a spoonful of two different colors, swirl but do NOT mix.  It's okay if you can still see the bottom of the pan because the batter will spread out as it bakes.

8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, checking around the 8 minute mark to make sure they do not burn. 

9. Pop them out with a small spatula onto a cooling rack.  

ICING

YOU WILL NEED:

1/2 c. softened butter

5-7 c. confectioner's sugar

1/2 c. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbs. blueberry preserves

2 tbs. raspberry preserves

2 tbs. blackberry preserves

1 tsp. lemon extract

food coloring

PREPARATIONS:

1. Beat butter and 4 c. confectioner's sugar.  

2. Add milk and vanilla and beat until fully mixed.

3. Add the remainder of the powdered sugar by the cup until it has reached a slightly stiffer consistency than you would like.

4. Separate the icing into four bowls.  Add each preserve or extract to one bowl each.  Taste each icing to make sure that you can taste the various flavors.  If it isn't strong enough for you, add more a little at a time.  

5. Add the food dye to each bowl to match the colors that the cupcakes will be.  We used purple for blackberry, blue for blueberry, pink for raspberry, and yellow for lemon.  

ASSEMBLY

Once the cupcakes have cooled, put a dab of icing (we matched the colors but you can mix and match to make the flavors a surprise) on the flat side of each cupcake and place it on another cupcake (bottom to bottom) so you have a sandwich.  Enjoy!

Parisian Macarons

Babycakes and I spent a good long time deciding what recipes to post for Easter.  We couldn’t come up with anything that was really synonymous with the holiday, so we brainstormed for recipes that were sweet and pastel colored.  One of the first things we came up with were macarons (the French spell it macaron, Americans spell it macaroon.  Since I was a French major, and after all these are Parisian macarons, I’m going to go with the French on this one). 

You may have noticed we went a few weeks between posts.  This is because a.) We do have a few other posts that are almost ready to go, please be patient with us! And b.) We failed miserably the first time we made macarons.  The almonds weren’t ground fine enough, we didn’t whip our eggs enough, the macarons didn’t rise, and of course I was the one who forgot to leave the oven door ajar.  Disaster!

Luckily, our second try came out pretty well.  I did again accidentally shut the oven door for the last two minutes, so the color did not come out as we hoped, but at least they rose this time!   

Good luck and have fun, it’s only dessert! 

<3 Sweet Cheeks 

recipe from: Martha Stewart

YOU WILL NEED:

1 1/4 c. plus 1 tsp confectioner's sugar

1 c. (4oz.) finely ground sliced, blanched almonds

6 tbs fresh egg whites from about 3 large eggs (room temperature works best)

pinch of salt

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

food coloring (optional)

filling of your choice (we mixed two tsp of raspberry jam with our leftover macaron batter)

PREPARATIONS 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and ground almonds. 

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip until stiff glossy peaks form. If you plan to dye your macarons, this is where you would add two drops of food coloring. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the confectioners' sugar mixture until completely incorporated.

 4. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Fit a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch #4 round tip, and fill with batter. Pipe 1-inch disks onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. We spooned our mixture onto the parchment paper because bits of almond that weren't properly ground kept getting stuck in the pastry tip. The batter will spread a little. Let stand at room temperature until dry, and a soft skin forms on the tops of the macarons and the shiny surface turns dull, about 15 minutes.  

5. Bake, with the door of the oven slightly ajar, until the surface of the macaroons is completely dry, about 15 minutes.  It is very important that the door stays slightly ajar or it will alter the taste and color of the macarons!

6. Remove baking sheet to a wire rack and let the macarons cool completely on the baking sheet. Gently peel off the parchment. Their tops are easily crushed, so take care when removing the macarons from the parchment. Use immediately or store in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

 (the greenish color is what happens when you accidentally close the oven door for the last two minutes!)

7. To fill the macarons: Fill a pastry bag with the filling. Turn macaroons so their flat bottoms face up. On half of them, pipe about 1 teaspoon filling. Sandwich these with the remaining macaroons, flat-side down, pressing slightly to spread the filling to the edges. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Irish Potatoes

St, Patrick's Day is an Irish celebration that spans the globe. Today kids will check their Leprachaun traps and everyone will be decked out in green. If you're caught wearing any other color, beware! A pinch is the price you pay for not wearing the Emerald Isle's favorite color. 

The Irish flag today is made up of three stripes: green, white and orange. The Irish are predominately Catholic and before the current flag was created, the country's flag was a harp on a green background. In 1690, King William III's, also known as William of Orange (an area in France, he did not have a perpetual spray-on tan!), largley Protestant army defeated King James II's largely Irish Catholic army. This would mark the start of tensions between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland. As a way to acknowledge both groups, the Irish flag changed so that the green would represent the Catholics, the orange would be the Protestants and the white signifies the truce between the two. This leads us to the tradition of wearing green or orange on St. Patty's Day. The Catholics would normally don green and the Protestants orange. I imagine the pinch is a fun way to get back at the orange wearing Protestants.

For our last Irish themed recipe we chose to make Irish Potatoes because they are terribly simple to make and a great little treat. And with a little of that Irish luck, we will have more Irish themed blogs later this year. The goal is to see Eire first hand and bring back some great recipes and stories to share.  If you have any suggestions or requests for what we should see or recipes to bring back we'd be more than happy to hear from you!

 
YOU WILL NEED:

1/4 c. soft butter

4 oz. of regular (not whipped or fat free, better consistency) cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. (about 16 oz) confectioners' sugar

2 1/2 c. flaked coconut

Ground cinnamon

PREPARATIONS:

1. Soften cream cheese and cream together with the butter. 

2. Mix in vanilla. I used a whisk for these two steps because it helped to make it creamy. 

3. Stir in confectioners' sugar one cup at a time. Your mixture will start to get lumpy and difficult to stir. I switched to a spoon halfway through. 

4. Lastly, add in the coconut and mix thoroughly. 

5. Put the ground cinnamon in a separate bowl. Form quarter size balls of the mixture and coat them in cinnamon by rolling them in the bowl. 

Simple and delicious and not prone to the potato blight!

How to Cut a Leek

Leeks are a unique vegetable that grow in sandy soil. Since they have loose layers, similar to their onion counterparts, this sand makes them very dirty so you can't just chop them up and eat them.

First, you cut off the roots as close as possible so you do not lose too much of the white, fleshy part. Then cut off the hard, green leaves a few inches after it turns from white to green. The further up you go, the tougher it is so you don't want to leave too high up on the green. Now you can slice the leek longways down the middle.

Place the leek flat side down and slice to your desired thickness.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and get a colander ready in the sink. Dump the cut leeks into the water and swirl around cleaning off all the dirt. Lift the ceaned leek bits out of the water with your hand and place them in the colander. Do not dump directly into the colendar because you will then dump the dirty water on top of them and have to clean them again.

If you are using the leeks in a soup, you can place them directly in. If you are going to sautee them, pat them dry first in a paper towel. 

Champ (Brúitín)

YOU WILL NEED:

5 lbs potatoes

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

8 sprigs of scallions

Garlic

Ground Pepper

PREPARATIONS:

I used red potatoes because I like them better and you don’t need to peel them, the skin is thin enough to use if you want to. I peeled my potatoes and diced them up into roughly 1 inch pieces. Place potatoes into a large pot and fill with water until the potatoes are just covered in water. I am a garlic fiend so I added a heaping spoon (not the wimpy dessert spoon but the big honking one) of minced garlic to let the flavor boil into the potatoes. 

Boil potatoes until they are soft, roughly 15 minutes. Drain water and add milk and butter. Mash potatoes to desired consistency and then stir in diced scallions and pepper to taste.

Guinness Beef Stew

St. Patty’s Day is the one day of the year where everyone is Irish. Whether you are celebrating your heritage or out to enjoy the festivities, a hearty Irish meal is the perfect way to end the day or prepare for a night of drinking! And what better way to combine the two than with Guinness Stew?

Traditional Irish stew is made of mutton, potatoes, onions and water. Personally I cannot stand mutton; it has a specific taste that is too pungent for me and is as tough as old shoe leather. Lamb is much better in my opinion, but you have to be careful when getting it at the store, sometimes they try to pass off mutton as lamb. Lamb is much more tender and flavorful. But when it comes to stew, I am a sucker for beef.

We have a local Irish restaurant in my town.  I once had their stew and was terribly disappointed to find that it did not have one ounce of potatoes in it. When you think of Irish food the first thing to come to mind is potatoes. It was the Great Potato Famine between 1845 and 1852 that drove mass amounts of Irish to find new homes elsewhere. The potato: once it had been introduced to Ireland it became a supplementary food for the gentry but became a staple for the poor. When the Blight came and killed off many potato crops, people started to go hungry and die. The potatoes changed the landscape of Ireland’s people and greatly affect their lives. You can’t think of Irish food today without looking for the potatoes. So my disappointment at not having any potatoes in my Irish Stew made me feel that I could do better.

This past Valentine’s day found Sweet Cheeks and me testing out a new (at least to us) Irish pub in the city, and I decided to give their Guinness Stew a try in hopes that it would be more Irish since the bartender himself was an honest to God Irishman with the accent and everything. So imagine my surprise when out comes a steaming dish of stew with a white squirt of something with scallions in it. I was hesitant at first but my first bite showed it for what it was: Irish mashed potatoes in a thick stew. I fell in love with the idea of mashed potatoes with scallions (called Champ or brúitín) placed in a hearty Irish stew. I vowed to learn how to make this dish and share it with my family. Now I am sharing it with all of you!

Babycakes

YOU WILL NEED:

1 c. diced onion

1 c. diced celery

1 c. diced carrots

2 leeks finely cut

2 lbs beef cubes (or lamb if you prefer, just make sure it isn’t mutton!)

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

6 c. vegetable or beef bullion (I use Better Than Bullion mixed in hot water, less salt)

Parsley

Bay leaves

½ c. butter

½ c. flour

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

*Using a Guinness Extra Stout will make the stew taste strongly of the beer. If this is not to your tastes, just use a normal Guinness.

*If you buy beef tips in a package at the store, you are going to want to cut them into smaller, bite-size pieces. Not only does this mean less work while eating but it spreads the beef out a bit in the stew so you are getting meat in every bowl. You can also add more or less of any of these ingredients to your specific tastes. We had 5 people pretty much clean out the entire pot with the above measurements. Next time I would consider increasing everything by at least a half with that many mouths because people will go back for seconds!

PREPARATIONS:

I find it infinitely easier to go about making this stew if you have everything precut and ready to go. So first make sure you cut up all your veggies and meat. I highly recommend using the leeks if you can find them because they are very good. When cooked they taste like a milder, buttery version of onions dipped in a hint of garlic. I would love to experiment with them in a leek soup!  How to cut a leek. 

           

Fry the beef up in some butter and minced garlic in one pan until completely cooked. In another pan, start frying up the celery and onions in some butter as well. After the beef is cooked, transfer to a deep pot, juices and all. In the frying pan that the meat was in, start sautéing the carrots in just a little bit of butter so they do not burn. Add the leeks and cook until they are soft. Add to the beef.

Once the onions and celery turn clear, add the can of tomato paste and bring to a boil. Add the parsley and bay leaves (whole leaves are easier to find later and remove) and bring to a boil. This will become part of the sauce stock. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes while you prepare the rue.

In yet another frying pan (this stew creates a mountain of dishes!) start browning the ½ cup of butter for the rue. Once it starts to fizzle and the edges turn a brownish color, add the flour and mix with a whisk. 

This is going to create a lumpy concoction. I added a cup of vegetable bullion to thin it out and create a creamier consistency. Add this and the tomato and veggie stock to the pot with the beef. Add the remaining vegetable bullion to the pot along with the carrots and leeks. This will be very thick but do not add too much water to thin it out. Season the stew to taste with salt and pepper.  Bring the contents to a boil and then reduce to a simmer stirring occasionally so it does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour.  This is a good point to start making your Champ.

Add a bottle of Guinness to the stew slowly and return to a boil. 

By adding this at the end, it will thin out the stew to a creamy consistency without being watered down or runny. Allow to cook for about 15 more minutes. Spoon into a bowl hot and add some champ to the middle of it, crack open a Guinness to drink and voila! The perfect Irish meal!