LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN

Happy Mother's Day!  This is my first blog post.  How fitting that I've begun my blogging adventure on Mother's Day.  It's my love of baking that I got from the wonderful Mothers in my life: my Mom, my Granny Butler, and my Granny McKenzie.  They've all shared their gifts with me.  I hope to share the gifts with my children.

This week has been THE busiest for cupcakes.  In all, I made 12 dozen of two different types of cupcakes for four events!  Wednesday night church dinner, Thursday wedding shower at work, Friday English tea for the teachers at the kids' school, and Friday fish fry at work.  That's a record for me.  It was quite the gauntlet, but I felt energized and excited for the challenge. 

The first challenge was "what to make"?  As you'll find, I get inspiration of lots of places and often times will blend recipes from different sources to find just the right cupcakes and frosting.  This week was no different.  I chose to make a special cupcake in honor of teacher appreciation week, so I discovered that Ms. Hartsfield (Mack's teacher) really likes Carrot Cake.

I searched for just the right recipe with simple yet flavorful ingredients.  I looked online at various recipes and found a carrot cake recipe that looked moist and a cream cheese frosting recipe that looked simple and sweet.  I'll admit...I've never made carrot cake so I was apprehensive about how they would turn out.  I decided that my first test of the recipe was going to be for Wednesday night church.

Each Wednesday night at our church (Indian Springs Baptist Church), about 60 members and guests join in the fellowship hall for a meal before church services.  Mom and Bill volunteered to make the meal and did not disappoint with wonderful ribs, cole slaw, and corn.  Pops and that new grill are unstoppable. 

The carrot cake cupcakes were a nice complement, along with Mom's coconut cupcakes.  They were very moist (nothing worse than a dry cupcake) and the frosting was amazing.  I think I'll keep this recipe!

For the shower on Thursday, I went more themed.  Alex and Kay are getting married on the May 19th, so his co-workers in Finance & Accounting put a shower together to honor their union.  The colors they chose for their wedding were lavender and cream.  So, the cupcakes were a vanilla cupcake (same recipe I used for the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes I made for Alexandra's pup party), which I tinted a light purple, and the new cream cheese frosting recipe I discovered.  It was a great combination!!! 

Finally, it was Thursday and the last cupcakes of the week were on the agenda.  I thought I was doing well by getting home a little early after the kids' dental appointment.  Started the cupcakes and was making great progress towards not being up until 10pm again.  I had made two batches (4 dozen), which were baking in the oven.  Then...I realized...I forgot the eggs!!  Let me tell you from experience that the recipe without eggs does not work!!!  So, what I thought would be an early night, turned out not to be.  Oh well...more time to perfect my craft.

The final product had a little twist on the decorations from the ones earlier in the week.  Since I was not going to be there to describe the flavor, I wanted to make sure the teachers clearly knew the flavor.  As it turned out, the decorations came in handy for the work cupcakes, since I had to stay home with Mack because of his knee injury (another story).

I'm glad the weekend came.  Phil had to open the store both days, but Kennedy, Mack and I have spent the time just hanging around the house, enjoying each other's company and recovering.  I've opened my gifts (thanks Mom) and Mack made me a cup of coffee!  It was delicious!  We'll enjoy a nice church service and I think a pedicure is on the agenda, too. :)  For all the Mothers in my life, I hope you have a wonderful day filled with love and most importantly time with your children!

Thank you for visiting and reading about my week's cupcake adventures.  I promise to get better at telling the story of my cupcakes and the people I've made them for.

-Angie 

Now for the recipe..

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

·         Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

·         Beat the sugar, oil, and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.

·         Add the eggs, 1 at a time.

·         In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

·         With the mixer on low speed, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until blended.

·         Add the grated carrots and pecans to the batter. Mix by hand until just combined.

·         Line muffin pans with paper liners. Scoop the batter into 24 muffin cups until each is 3/4 full.

·         Cook for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

·         When the cupcakes are cool, frost them generously with cream cheese frosting, decorate as desired, and serve.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

·         In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  

·         Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.

·         Store in the refrigerator after use.