My Take On Carrot Cake [with recipes]

Tonight I finally have a chance to sit and tell the story of My Take On Carrot Cake, which has become kind of a tradition to make every August. Now, it's only been a tradition for 3 years, but still it's something I will never complain about. There are two reasons, I LOVE CARROT CAKE! and it's for a birthday. Not your traditional birthday cake I know, but why not! :) 

The logo!

So I've been working on a few options for a logo. For now I think I'm gonna go with the coffee up logo. I drew the actualy cup outline on my phone and did some editing and added the wording on the computer. I like it. What do you think about the logo?

Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies

So it's been quite a busy week! It was my "roller coaster" week. The price I have to pay for having a weekend off. All that aside, I thought I wanted to just relax on my day off, but couldn't. Well I did relax but I had to bake something. I wanted to keep it simple, very simple. I decided to skim through The Art & Soul of Baking to see what I could find. I decided to do a cookie. Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Caramel Frappulicious Cupcakes

I wanted to try something new with a cupcake so I got a recipe and made it my own. I wanted to do a coffee flavored cupcake. I LOVE coffee! lol So I got this coffee cupcake recipe and decided to go with a caramel flavor. I changed the recipe a bit to make it a little richer in flavor. I do however still need to do some work on the recipe. It did turn out decent but I want it to be better! I made some homemade whipped cream and caramel for the topping. The coffee flavor, I think, needs to be a little stronger and I don't think I'll use coffee grinds as the recipe calls for. I would also like to infuse more caramel flavor. Have caramel more present than just on the top. Maybe a caramel filling? I'll post next time I make them and I will post the recipe once I get it completed!

Also, I happened to take some of these to dinner last night. They were well liked. But than can be even better with a lil more work! The Vanilla Bean Cupcakes were a sure HIT! They were all gone! They are just too good to leave sit! hehe Thanks to all who tried them both last night!

Here are a few pics...

Grammie's Strawberry Filled Cupcakes

So I tried something that I've not done before...Filling cupcakes.

Having read through the begining of my new cookbook I thought I'd try a cake recipe from it. However, I didn't want to just make a cupcake. So, I thought that I'd make them extra special and use some of my Grandma's (hence the name) homemade strawberry jam. Was a good idea and the cupcakes did taste decent but not great, to no fault of the jam. I'm still trying to work up my baking supplies and ingredients. I have yet to get a scale and all that jazz to measure properly. The way most recipes were made in the cookbook were by weight. Now they do give you the cup amount to add, but it's important to follow the "dip n scoop" method. I think that's where I failed in this cupcake. The recipe used cake flour which I had to purchase, don't keep it in the cabinet. So, I took the bag out and dumped into the measuring cup rather than doing "dip n scoop". BAD IDEA! It doesn't help that I, still don't know why, I don't have a sifter and the flour was to be sifted. In the end, the cupcakes look AWESOME! Unfortunately, they were a little dry. Even after the filling and frosting, they didn't get much better. I will try this recipe again, but I will make sure to do it properly. Anywho, here are some pictures!

The cupcakes shortly after the oven. They look SO good!

Filled and iced with a very good Cream Cheese Frosting!

And a look inside. Kinda looks like a face sticking out it's tongue. lol