at home with ann

I've told you before how much I love carrot cake.  I wouldn't say I'm a huge cake lover in general, unless it's the cheese variety, but I adore carrot cake.  Carrot cake cupcakes were a natural choice for Colin's C themed birthday party, and I justified it by telling myself he'd be at least get a vegetable mixed in with the butter, sugar and flour.  The original recipe is supposed to yield 12 cupcakes, but I filled mine a little low and had plenty for 12 regular cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes.  I doubled the original frosting recipe (my measurements below), because you never want to be stingy on frosting, and had a little leftover.  The birthday boy got a mini cupcake and thought it was the most amazing thing he'd ever eaten.  I held it for him to take bites, and at one point he grabbed my hand and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.  I'd say they were a success .  I'd also say that it appears he is biting my hand in this picture based on the...

Carrot is my favorite type of cake.   This whole going dairy-free thing has opened up some new doors for baking.  Mostly for how to replace butter.  You'd think since I'm not cooking with butter that I would refrain from watching Paula Deen, but you would be wrong.   There are several vegan bakers out there on the big world of the internet, and one of my favorites is Angela at Oh She Glows .  She uses real ingredients, and her recipes taste great.  Nothing is worse than a healthy cookie that tastes overly healthy. Or one that's full of scary substitute chemical ingredients.  I was having a major sweet craving yesterday, which led me to attempt a strawberry chocolate sorbet in the blender.  The noise of frozen strawberries in the blender scared the baby, so I felt like a terrible mother and still had no dessert.  Today I took a different approach, and the results were much better.   These are like a combination of litt...

Carrot is my favorite kind of cake.  This may be because cream cheese is my favorite kind of frosting.  Plus, you're eating vegetables, so it's "healthy".  Eat enough carrots and you get a nice fake tan (ie. your skin turns orange).  Eat enough carrot cake and you'll get more than a fake tan, but we're all about moderation around here.   Carrot Cake recipe from Joy of Baking Ingredients: 3/4 pound (340 grams) raw carrots (about 2 1/2 cups finely grated) 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose  flour 1 teaspoon  baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons  baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 large eggs 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white  sugar (I would cut this down to one cup next time, it was pretty sweet!) 1 cup (240 ml) safflower, vegetable or canola oil (or other flavorless oil) 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (optional, but makes the cake super moist) Cream Cheese Frostin...