Carrot cake cupakes

For Mother's Day, the response to "Can I bake anything?" was 8 simple words: "Carrot cake mini muffins, chocolate iced banana cake."  Though that's not what I ended up bringing.  I just twisted the requests a little, but am super happy with the finished results.

First up was the variation on the "chocolate iced banana cake."  The version I made was a Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache Drizzle.  It was amazing!  You can read all about it here.

Second up was more of a minor tweaking of the request.  See, my aunt asked for Carrot Cake Mini Muffins.  But I originally read that as mini carrot cake cupcakes.  So I set out to bake some of those.  I had to find a new recipe, since as much as I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my carrot cake recipe, it never seems to bake up well into cupcakes.  It's such a shame since I love the cake so much, but I needed to find a new recipe.  In the past, I had been put off by carrot cake recipes that called for crushed pineapple, but that changed recently when I bought a carrot muffin on my way home to my parents, and it had pineapple in it....and it was delicious!  So I had done a lot of searching for carrot cake cupcakes (thanks, Pinterest!), and had narrowed it down to two recipes.  Ultimately, I ended up choosing this one.  But I digress...

See, she wanted mini cupcakes, er, muffins.  But I halved the recipe, and still had a ton of batter!  Plus, the mix-ins (hand-shredded carrots and the jumbo raisins I had chosen to use) were kinda large and I was afraid you'd get no "cupcake" in mini form.  So, I decided that (despite how much I love all things mini), I needed to go with full-sized cupcakes.  I was supposed to get a dozen from half the recipe.  I got a dozen and STILL had leftover batter, so my aunt got her wish, and I baked up a few (....16!) mini cupcakes for her, too!

I chose to make these nut free for two reasons.  First off, my cousin is deathly allergic to all nuts and also peanuts.  As a rule, I never bake anything with nuts if she will be there.  So no nuts in these cupcakes.  BUT....I also don't usually like nuts in my baked goods (the exceptions are generally carrot cake and zucchini bread....and very infrequently in banana bread), and I wanted these to be on the lighter side, so I subbed in raisins for the nuts.  I think there would be nothing wrong with you at all if you decided to add half nuts and half raisins (as in, I might actually do that the next time I make them).

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
from Deliciously Sprinkled

Ingredients (for 24 full-sized cupcakes):

4 large eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup apple sauce (I used unsweetened)
1 cup golden (light) brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 tsp (1 Tbsp) ground cinnamon
3 tsp (1 Tbsp) vanilla extract
3 cups grated carrots (hand grated....trust me.  Freshly hand-grated.  Don't buy the pre-shredded carrots)
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts (like I said above, I subbed in 1 cup of raisins...but no one would fault you (or me, in the future) for using 1/2 cup each of chopped walnuts and raisins)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line cupcake pan with liners.

Using an electric or stand mixer, mix the eggs, canola oil, applesauce, brown sugar, and sugar until smooth.
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon until combined.
Slowly mix in dry ingredients until no clumps remain.
Stir in vanilla, carrots, pineapple, and chopped walnuts (or raisins, or both).

Pour batter into the pans, about 3/4 the way full (I'd do about 2/3 of the way full...I filled mine 3/4 of the way, and a few of them baked over).
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took 18 minutes).
Allow to cool before frosting.

(The original recipe had a cream cheese icing recipe in it.  However, I love my cream cheese icing, and chose to use it on these cupcakes.  It went perfectly!  See below for my recipe, or use the recipe from the original cupcakes by clicking the link above.)

Cream Cheese Icing
(I got this recipe from Epicurious years ago, and committed it to memory....which is a good thing because the original is nowhere to be found on the website now!)

Ingredients:

3 8-oz packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 stick butter, at room temperature
3-4 cups of powdered sugar
Vanilla, to taste

Directions:

Blend cream cheese and butter.
Add vanilla to taste.
Add powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until desired sweetness and consistency (I usually end up with about 3 cups of powdered sugar).

Assembly

I piped the icing onto the cooled cupcakes, and topped with a royal icing carrot.
If using nuts in the cupcakes, rimming the cupcake with chopped nuts would look nice, too (that's what I do with my full-sized carrot cake).

Banana cake with chocolate ganache

This year my aunt is hosting Mother's Day.  Instead of showing up with a cake without any warning, I decided to email her ahead of time to offer up some home-baked goods.  I had no idea what I was going to make, but I wanted to ensure that she didn't want me showing up empty handed.  She replied to my email, and not only did she want me to bring something, she had specific requests!  Namely some "carrot cake mini muffins" and a "chocolate-iced banana cake"  (my aunt's two favorites).  This should come as no surprise considering that I made banana cupcakes with chocolate icing for Mother's Day last year, and the year before I made a cute little centerpiece with banana cake-chocolate icing cake balls!  Listen, it is, after all, their day (my mom, my aunts, my grandma...and all the other mothers out there), so they should get the desserts that they want, right?

But not wanting to acquiesce so easily, I decided I'd make a riff on the "chocolate-iced banana cake" request and instead make a banana bundt cake with a chocolate ganache drizzle.  Besides the fact that I'm on a bit of a bundt cake spree lately (there was the red velvet one from when B's brother was visiting, and the daiquiri one, too), I also find them a bit easier to transport since they don't seem as fragile as a regular ole layer cake.

I made the cake exactly as the directions stated, and then just had to adjust the baking time to account for the fact that I was making a bundt cake and not a 9 x 13 cake.

"Best Banana Cake"
From Inside BruCrew Life

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 brown bananas, smashed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs, salt, and vanilla until creamy.
"Smash" the bananas, or rather mash them.  I found a fork worked fine.
Stir in the bananas.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda together and add to the banana mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.

Place the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes (for bundt cake).

Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Transfer to a serving plate.
Drizzle with chocolate ganache (recipe follows).

Chocolate Ganache
From Alton Brown
(I quartered the recipe, since I just wanted to glaze the cake with the ganache.  It made just under a cup of ganache...and it was more than enough!  If you want your cake to have more glaze, half the recipe.  I cannot imagine needing the full recipe, which makes 3.5 cups of ganache)

Ingredients (for the full recipe; I quartered it):

16 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used semisweet), chopped fine
16 oz heavy cream

Directions:

Place the chopped chocolate in the bowl of a food processor.

Heat the heavy cream in the microwave for 3-4 minutes on high, or until it just begins to simmer (which is what I did, since I had 1/4 of the cream).  Be careful not to let it boil over.
Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes.
Process by pulsing several times until chocolate mixture is smooth.

Use as is for glazing (which is what I did).

*If you wish to make a lighter frosting (which wouldn't work for this cake, but would work if you made it into a flat cake or layer cake), allow it to come to room temperature (about 2 hours).
Once at room temperature, place in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk on high for 2-3 minutes.

Banana cupcakes with chocolate icing

My mom and aunts recount eating banana cake with chocolate icing during their childhood.  I hear about it pretty often.  Last year, I made banana-chocolate cake pops with flowers and put them in a little flower pot for a cute Mother's Day centerpiece. 

This year, my aunt is hosting mother's day.  I asked her if I could bake anything for dessert, and she said she'd get back to me.  When she did, she asked for a nut-less carrot cake (my cousin is allergic to nuts), and I asked if she'd mind cupcakes instead, since I find cupcakes easier to transport than a whole cake.  She was OK with the idea, and so nut-less carrot cake cupcakes were the dessert choice.

But then I thought about it a little and decided that since she loves banana cake with chocolate icing, I would also make that for dessert -- since dessert is for Mother's Day and it is, afterall, her day.  I found a banana cake recipe and used a Nutella icing recipe - MINUS the nutella because of my cousin's allergy, although I would assume that Nutella icing on banana cupcakes might actually be heavenly - that I had made before and was quite well received.  So I made a little change to the menu and informed my aunt, but shhhh, don't tell.....she doesn't know what the change is!

Banana Cupcakes
recipe states that it makes 12, I got 12 full-sized + 8 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

6 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup mashed banana (about 1 1/2 medium bananas - I got that amount from about 1 1/3 large bananas)
1/3 cup sour cream or vanilla yogurt (I used yogurt)
3 tablespoons milk

 

Directions:

Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.

 

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, allspice, and salt.

Add gradually to the butter mixture.

Add the mashed banana, sour cream (or yogurt), and milk.

Mix until everything is combined (don't over-mix).

Divide batter amongst 12 lined muffin cups.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

 

 

Chocolate Cloud Icing

(check out the Nutella version here)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but cool

1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup premium bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted and slightly cooled

1 tablespoon (15 ml) milk

pinch of salt

 

Directions:

 

In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter and beat on low speed for about 1 minute.

 

Add vanilla, and beat on low speed until well combined.

Add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes).

 

Add the milk and pinch of salt, and beat on med-high speed for another minute.