Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Lately, I have felt inclined to take my baking off the 'cookie only' path. Cookies are a safe bet for me, an art I feel comfortable in knowing the outcome.

But every once in awhile, you just want to let your hair down, and get crazy. Shake it up. I had a cupcake the other day from Harmon's bakery that had a unique root beer flavor. Whenever I experience something new I like, I instantly ask myself the question, "how can I recreate this, or perhaps make even better?"

I'm a perfectionist, its true. These aren't yet perfect, but it's worth working towards.Root Beer Float Cupcakes

1 ½ cups cake flour (if you don't have any use AP and replace 2-3 tbsp with cornstarch)
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt (I always use a touch more)

Mix above dry ingredients in a bowl:

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg plus 2 egg whites½ teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon root beer concentrate (got it at Walmart, not that hard to find)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy.

Add in egg and egg whites, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition to combine before adding the next.

Add in the flour mixture and milk mixture in three alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Beat just to combine each addition before adding the next.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill each cupcake liner about ¾ full with batter. Bake in oven for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool completely before decorating. And then of course, the best part....

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon root beer concentrate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons milk, until desired consistency is acheived

Cream butter and add sugar until combined, then add root beer and vanilla, mix then add milk until desired consistency is achieved.

Lastly, enjoy.....

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Truly, I had no idea how much I liked carrot cake until I rediscovered it when my dear friend Ashley brought some over as a pre-birthday cake last month. What a moist delight of goodness, and it is even better in small slivers frozen. I have fond memories of my mothers carrot cake she always made from scratch and finely shredded the carrots. This is the key to a fine cake in my opinion, finely shredded carrots, it takes more time but then they don't all sink to the bottom. I like to spice mine up a bit with cinnamon and ginger, because I love it! The best part of carrot cake has never been the nuts or raisins so I left them out of this version. I simply kept with the simplicity of the carrots to moisten the cake, no pineapples, sorry. And we all know what puts this cake over the top is homemade cream cheese frosting! My recipe is half size of what you would typically find because I chose to make a single layer in a 9x9 pan, a better size for us, and no need to frost sides and middles.

So in honor of carrots as more than just a side dish or on a salad, here goes!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (you can use all white if you are out of brown)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Mix above ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 cups finely shredded carrots

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat eggs, then add in oil, carrots, and vanilla extract. Once well blended add in dry ingredients in the bowl.

Pour into a 9X9 glass pan and bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick coming out of center clean. Let cool completely.

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

4 oz. cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 cups of confectionary sugar

Mix above until smooth. Frost the cake when cooled!

Buen Provecho!

Cardamon Coffee Cake

For those of you that believe that you can find any recipe you need on the internet at any time (ok, I am actually talking about myself) I have a question for you. What do you do when your internet goes out? It's a similar convenience to all the grocery stores that have started to stay open 24 hours, that means we can run and pick up the missing ingredient ANY time. Is this a blessing or a curse, do we get lazy and forget how things used to be done?

So before the days of laptops and 24 hour on-line accessibility, starting in my early teens, I read cooking magazines and cookbooks. Am I alone on this one, did anyone else have a fettish with reading recipes in their youth? At that time the only way to read recipes was in a cookbook or magazine. So whatever I could get my hands on that bore at least one food photo, if even only the cover, I read it. If I was as diligent in reading my textbooks as I was reading recipes in high school, surely I would have graduated with a 4.0. With each recipe I analyzed accessibility of ingredients, cost, nutritional value, attractiveness, ingredient ratios, and quantity. I studied them for hours, I imagined what it would be like if I made it with my own unique variations. Many recipes I simply imagined making them if only in my mind, but at that time, that was enough.

In my adulthood one of my favorite cooking magazines has been Eating Well, of which my wise sister gave me the subscription to a few years back for a Christmas gift. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. I still have the entire collection of 2 years, and have them neatly stacked next to other sacred readings. I particularly fell in love with Eating Well Magazine because they offer a variety of recipes with seasonal ingredients, healthy, simple, and even have a section on cooking for two! From time to time, I remember my roots of pre-internet days, shuffle through the pages and stumble upon a new surprise that I absolutely must re-create.

One such moment came yesterday, and while I reveled in re-reading recipes from years prior, I caught the flair to make Cardamom Coffee Cake. Years ago when I saw this recipe I am certain I thought nothing of it, at that time I had no idea what Cardamom was, where to get it, or why I wanted to use it in a recipe. Now that I am older and wiser, I have realized Cardamom is, truly, the spice of the Gods, seriously I love this stuff, and I would like to find a viable reason to put it into, well, just about anything. It is used heavily in Indian cooking and Ayurveda (science of life). I love how it taste, smells, and feels. Initially it comes in pods which you can grind yourself for the freshest powder, or buy it already ground. Someday I will grind my own spices, but I am not there yet. So for now I will put my Cardamom in Coffee Cakes, and I don't even drink Coffee. But not to worry a tall glass of milk will help the Cardamom go down, again, and again, and again.

Cardamom Coffee Cake1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

Sift above ingredients together and set aside.

1 large egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk (I never have this on hand, so I make my own by adding 1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice to 1/2 cup of milk and let sit for at least 10 minutes)

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the above ingredients until well combined.

Add dry ingredients in 2 additions, stirring until well blended.

Prepare the crumble by mixing the following in a food processor:

3 tbsp cold unsalted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 2 tbsp of walnuts (optional)

Spray an 8 inch square pan with cooking spray, pour the batter into it, add the crumble on top evenly. Sprinkle a few rolled oats on top for appeal.

Bake at 335 degrees for 25-28 minutes. ENJOY!