Easter Cake: Carrot Cake Cheese Cake

Two of my favorite desserts are carrot cake and cheese cake.  When I came across this recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen on Pinterest I knew that I had to make it.  I thought that it would be perfect for Easter.

 Of course I had to find a festive way to decorate.  I wanted something "springy"  I came across this idea from Glorious Treats.  I decided to just do the top with the flowers.  I think I did a few too many.  If I do this again, I would put less flowers on it. 

It was delicious. Not all of my family are huge dessert eaters, but everyone tried this and loved it.  I thought that it would take a long time to bake all three layers, but it didn't take much longer than any other cake with a filling.  I will definitely make this again. 

Birthday Cupcakes

I volunteered to make cupcakes for Emma's second birthday.  They were ordering a cake, but said they would love some cupcakes too. Emma agreed because she told everybody that she was getting cupcakes for her birthday.

I made both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes from Glorious Treats, along with her cream cheese frosting.  This is the second time I've made her perfect vanilla cupcakes and I agree that they are perfect.  They are light, fluffy and delicious.  Although I like chocolate, I prefer a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting.  These were exactly what I like.

This was the first time that I made the perfectly chocolate cupcakes and they were great.  Not overly chocolate and very moist. Topping them off with cream cheese frosting made them even better.  I will never try another chocolate or vanilla recipe again.

Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 15-16 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)

1/2 cup buttermilk

(or 1/2 cup milk plus 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice- add acid to the milk then set aside for 5 minutes before using)

Directions-

Preheat oven to 350*F.

In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil, beat.

Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture.  Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Beat until just combined.  Scrap down the side of the bowl.  

The batter will be thin.   Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners.  Fill liners about 2/3 full. 

Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes. 

Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Frost when fully cool.

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 24-27 cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)

1 cup boiling water

Directions-

Line muffin tin with paper liners.  Heat oven to 350*F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat on medium speed for one minute.

Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don't worry, this is right).

Fill liners 2/3 full with batter.  (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)

Bake cupcakes for aproximately 22-24 minutes.

Frost when fully cool.

The frosting was Emma's favorite part.  She licked off all of the icing from her cupcake and began reaching for another.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter (set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool)
8 oz. cream cheese (directly from fridge)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 to 4 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk)

Directions:

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.

For Chocolate Frosting: add ½ cup unsweetened cocoa (I use Ghirardelli brand, because that's what she recommended and it was really good). Add the cocoa powder before adding the powdered sugar, so it gets fully incorporated into the butter and cream cheese.

The party was a Curious George theme.  I made the cupcake toppers and found the gummy bananas at the party store near my house.  

I hope she had a great birthday!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

When I first saw this I had no idea what sopapilla was, but when I saw cheesecake I knew it was something I needed to try.  I did a little Googling and found out the sopapilla is a fried dough that originated in New Mexico. 

This was super easy to make and super delicious.  You can't go wrong with crescent rolls, cream cheese, sugar, butter and cinnamon though.

Ingredients:
-2 cans pillsbury butter crescent rolls
-2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (softened)
-1 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 cup butter (melted)
-Cinnamon & sugar

Instructions:
Unroll and spread 1 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased 9x13 pan. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

I served it warm.  It also reheated nicely and I served it the next day too!

Inside Out Carrot Cupcakes

I've never been a big cake fan (Don't get me wrong, if there is cake in the room, I will eat it). I do love carrot cake.  This has been a favorite since childhood.  We even had carrot cake for our wedding cake.

I needed to make something for school, but wanted something pretty easy to make.  Cupcakes are nice, but I wasn't up for the extra step of frosting them.  I found this recipe for Inside Out Carrot Cupcakes on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect.

They turned out very yummy.  At first I thought they were a little dense, but overall they were great.  Everyone at school thought they were delicious too.  There were a few leftovers that got eaten up the next day.

Inside Out Carrot Cupcakes

Filling one 8-ounce package cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese 1/4 cup granulated sugar a few drops of Fiori di Sicilia flavor, optional (I didn't have it and mine were still tasty) Muffins 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar ¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup water 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 cup grated carrots, lightly packed; about 2 medium-large carrots Directions 1) Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan. Or line the pan with paper muffin cups, and grease the cups. 2) To make the filling: Place the cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on low power for 40 seconds. Stir in the sugar and flavor. Set aside. 3) To make the muffin batter: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. 4) In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and oil. 5) Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. 6) Fold in the grated carrots, stirring to combine. 7) Drop about 2 tablespoons of the batter (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here) into each muffin cup, spreading it to cover the bottom. 8) Dollop on a heaping tablespoon of filling; a level tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. 9) Cover with enough batter to fill the muffin cups quite full. The batter will come to within about 1/4" to 3/8" of the top of each muffin cup. But don't try to use all the batter; unless you have particularly deep cups, you'll have abut 1/3 cup batter left over. Bake it in a separate custard cup, if desired. 10) Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the cake part of one (not into the cream cheese filling) comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The tops of the muffins will feel firm to the touch. 11) Remove the muffins from the oven, and as soon as you're able to handle them, transfer them to a rack. If you serve the muffins warm, the filling will be molten. If you wait for them to cool, it'll firm up. Yield: 12 filled muffins plus 1 unfilled muffin. A great treat without the extra step of frosting them.  This also made them easier to transport and take to school because I didn't have to worry about the frosting getting messed up.