Mini Carrot Cupcakes For Your Personal Crisis

To the list of calamities I didn’t foresee in 2020, including a pandemic, lock downs, and violent crackdowns on mass protests, I definitely wasn’t planning to add unemployment. And yet, here I am. Or should I say, “here we are” as this is not at all just a “me” problem.

It wasn’t really a surprise, given that I was working in the travel industry and most people aren’t really using that at the moment! Even so, I suddenly found myself with all this free time added to my already pandemic-shrunken life and at a complete loss with what to do with myself.

There are no cafes to frequent during slow hours, or museums to remember to visit, or even movies to go see. Instead of a mid-week matinee of Wonder Woman 1984, movie theaters are closed, and I’m spending my days trying to decide which yoga pants to wear and which mask to don for my socially-distanced daily walk. It’s riveting stuff.

For all the times I used to joke that I just wished someone would pay me to stay home and bake, I now want to scream at the universe, “This isn’t what I meant!” But, to fill the time, I make myself live out some of that stupid fantasy. I keep telling myself, you will regret not taking advantage of this! I bought a 12-pound bag of flour, 4 pounds of sugar, yeast, and tons of butter, and I’m just baking my way through the blog backlog on my phone that I’ve ignored for the past couple of years.

Key lime pie, donuts, cinnamon swirl bread, cookies, I have become a one-woman bakery. I cracked open a patisserie cookbook, so I also turn out amateur renditions of vanilla tarts and fraisier cakes. Despite what sunny picture that might paint on Instagram, sometimes it feels like I’m putting all this stress and anxiety into my oven to exorcise it from myself. I have an endless supply, so I just bake more.

Once a week, I walk half of whatever I’ve baked the mile and a half to my friends’ apartment, where I drop off my bakery output for others to enjoy. That actually feels good, and productive!

That’s how these mini carrot cupcakes came to be, just one of the many baking projects I’ve tackled in the past few weeks. And honestly, these brought a smile to my face. Nothing is that bad when you have a tray of 36, cute, mini cakes staring up at you like little frosted soldiers. Rainbow sprinkles can actually do a lot to cheer you up!

The recipe for these cuties is based on Stella Parks’ carrot cake recipe from her book, which I've really been getting into these past few weeks (as I type this I have a stomach ache from snacking on a few too many of her graham crackers, which I burned, and still can’t stop eating). I first made the carrot cake recipe last year into a jokey half birthday cake, and immediately knew it would be great for fun cupcakes. To get the minis, I scaled everything waaaay down, a quarter recipe makes 36 of these! I topped them with her cream cheese frosting too, which I discovered basically turns into no-bake cheesecake when it chills, so don’t skip it!

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Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Cheesecake Frosting

Makes 36 mini cupcakes. Carrot cake recipe and frosting recipe adapted from Stella Parks.

For the Frosting:

• 4 oz milk

• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

• 1/3 cup plus 2 tsp sugar

• 1/2 tbs corn starch

• 1 large egg

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2/3 cup (6 oz) cream cheese, softened

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

• 2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

For the cupcakes:

• 3 1/2 oz pecan halves (3/4 cup plus 1/8 cup)

• 1/2 lb carrots, shredded

• 1 stick unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs all purpose flour

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1/4 tbs baking powder

• scant 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

• 1/4 tbs vanilla extract

• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk (or 2 medium eggs)

1. Make the frosting: Add the milk and vanilla bean to a small pot on medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and steep, covered, for 30 minutes (or in the fridge overnight if you want to make ahead).

2. Return the milk to simmering and whisk together the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl, then add the eggs and whisk. Remove the vanilla bean from the milk, scrape out the seeds and add them to the milk, then temper the eggs by adding the milk a bit at a time, whisking continuously. Add the eggs mixture back to the pot over medium heat and whisk continuously, until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble slowly, about 3 minutes. Once the mixture bubbles, whisk another 2 minutes (no less!) then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

3. Pour the custard into a container and cover with plastic wrap pressed against the surface. Refrigerate until cool, but not chilled. This will go faster if you use a bigger container and spread the custard across a larger surface area.

4. To finish the frosting, add the butter and the cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat for about 5 minutes on medium speed until well-combined, light and fluffy. Stir the cooled pudding until smooth and creamy and add to the mixer a spoonful at a time, beating on medium speed. Add in the lemon juice and beat about a minute more, until completely smooth. Set aside until ready to use. If you are making farther ahead, you can refrigerate, covered, and then rewhip after bringing the frosting back to room temp.

5. Make the cupcakes: toast the pecans. Preheat oven to 350 and toast the nuts for 10 minutes on a baking sheet, then cool completely. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn, checking around the eight minute mark . Chop roughly, then set aside to cool completely.

6. In a pot over medium low heat, melt the butter, then increase the heat to medium and simmer until the butter goes quiet and smells nutty. Pour into a glass measuring cup and set aside.

7. In a bowl, sift together the all purpose and whole wheat flours. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the sugars, spices, baking powder, salt, baking soda, vanilla and eggs and whisk on medium for 5 minutes until increased in volume and thick, then reduce speed to low and pour in the melted butter. Add the flours and whisk on low until well-combined, then, using a spatula, fold the carrots and pecans into the mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is fully combined.

8. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the mixture into a mini muffin tin lined with paper liners. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.

9. Once cupcakes are completely cool, pipe or spoon desired amount of frosting onto the cupcakes and decorate as you like (sprinkles and chopped pecans are my favorites). Serve immediately or, to really get the cheesecake vibe from the frosting, chill a bit first! Try not to eat them all at once!

Chocolate Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream

How are you doing?

I find that everyone is asking that question these days, not as a careless courtesy but more sincerely. How are we all doing? Based on my social circle and what I read on Twitter, we are all wanting to be hopeful and desperately looking for leadership. Meanwhile, we are Zooming our social lives and getting very into sourdough.

In San Francisco, we have been in social distance mode for over a month now, and I’m finding my emotional state moving day to day along a spectrum between acceptance and something approaching depression. Every benefit of this new existence seems to have a counterweight to it: going outside for fresh air and sunshine lifts my mood, but just leaving my front door feels fraught. Walking across this city is my very favorite thing, now it invites uncertainty that I’m risking my health. Skipping a morning commute gains more time, but if I spend that extra time sleeping I’m just groggy and lethargic all day. And so on.

There are distractions, though. I haven’t been watching much TV the past few weeks, but I’ve been reading a lot. I’m finishing up the fantasy epic of The Wheel of Time and finding its fictional world an odd source of perspective. My own world may have shrunk to the confines of my apartment, but I’m not going insane from using my magical powers or battling the Forsaken. Things could be worse!

Many of us also are escaping into our kitchens, if only out of necessity, but also for comfort and maybe a feeling of just doing something, anything of use. We can feed our loved ones or at least see through an activity with a known outcome. Nothing is certain, yet everything is certain. Add yeast or your new starter to flour, and it will rise. Chocolate and sugar warm from the oven will please everyone and make your house at least smell like nothing is wrong.

So we bake.

I’ve baked cookies, banana bread, and cornbread, but I’ve also made two cakes in the last month. For one thing, I’m not going anywhere, so I have the time. For another thing, the process of baking and building a layer cake is a baking project that reliably provides true distraction. Cake layers must be mixed, baked, and cooled. Frosting must be made. Garnishes decided upon and gathered or made. Then, the assembly: stacking layers, spreading frosting, chilling the stacked layers, spreading more frosting, smoothing, smoothing, smoothing, piping more frosting, adding garnish. Truly, a cake can keep you company for an entire weekend.

This particular cake was born from boredom and my ever expanding, dreamed up list of cake flavors. I wanted to try making chocolate mint leaves. I wanted to try mixing caramelized white chocolate into buttercream. I hadn’t piped buttercream roses in two years. I was just craving some chocolate cake.

There was just one, wee, small problem. I was out of a few baking essentials, including flour and sugar. So, I went to the store, where they were also out of flour and sugar, not to mention baking chocolate and vanilla. I came home, figuring I’d wing it with some self-rising flour and whatever sweetener and chocolate I could scrounge up. A search for sugar in my disorganized closets and cupboards led me to a wonderful discovery! I had actually, kind of a lot of coconut sugar in the pantry from a brief flirtation with “healthy” sugars in 2015, half a bag of cake flour in the freezer, one entire bar of unsweetened baking chocolate, and oh yeah, a massive bottle of imitation vanilla extract from my funfetti adventures.

This, my friends, is how you clean out your closets!

I assembled my hodgepodge ingredients together and hoped for the best. And it worked! The cake was rich and chocolatey, the frosting sweet with the bitter depth of caramel, and most of the mint peeled off the hardened chocolate. My finished product, while not winning any prizes for my piping skills, was successful enough that I wasn’t embarrassed to take photos of it.

Me: 1

Quarantine: ok, more than 1 but who’s counting anymore?

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Chocolate Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream

Chocolate cake adapted from The New York Times (the recipe is also on Food52 if you don’t have a subscription) and buttercream adapted from Cupcake Jemma (if you enjoy baking and haven’t yet discovered this YouTube channel, I highly recommend it).

For the cake (I’ve included original ingredients & my substitutions):

• 2 cups sugar (or coconut sugar)

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate ( I didn’t have exactly 4 ounces and topped off with some semi-sweet chocolate)

• 1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan (or cake flour)

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup milk

• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (real or imitation)

For the buttercream and the chocolate mint leaves (optional):

• 250g white chocolate - (at least 28% cocoa solids, don’t sub with low-quality white chocolate chips, it won’t work!)

• 3 egg whites

• 225g sugar (I used turbinado, which was nice with the white chocolate but may not dissolve completely)

• 200g unsalted butter, room temp

• 2 oz semi-sweet chocolate

• fresh mint leaves

1. Make the cake layers: Pre-heat oven to 375, and butter and flour two, 6-inch cake pans and set aside. In a pot over medium heat, add the sugar, chocolate, and butter, add 1 cup of water and stir sometimes until everything is melted and mixed together smoothly. Remove from the heat.

2. While chocolate mixture cools slightly, mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the milk and vinegar in another. When the chocolate has cooled enough (after about 5 minutes) stir in the milk mixture until fully combined, then add the eggs, mixing well to fully combine. Then, add the flour in three batches, stir to combine, then add the vanilla. Be careful not to overmix the matter, you should only need to stir until the flour just disappears. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake, checking after 25 minutes with a skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done!

3. Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. While cakes are cooling, make the frosting: add the white chocolate to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. The white chocolate should be completely melted or almost so. Stir to loosen. Continue microwaving in 15 second increments, until the chocolate turns a golden tan color and smells like caramel, about 5 minutes total (it may take longer or less time depending on your microwave). Stir well in between each round, the chocolate might look grainy or separated, but stirring should bring it all back together just fine.

4. Set the chocolate aside to cool and make the frosting base. In the bowl of a stand mixer set over simmering water, add the egg whites and the sugar and stir to combine. Keep stirring, until the sugar is dissolved (or mostly dissolved if you are using turbinado) and the mixture is almost too hot to touch. Transfer the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until fluffy and the bowl is cool to the touch (or at least room temp), about 5 minutes. Slowly add the butter, about a tablespoon at a time, with the mixer on medium speed, until the butter is fully incorporated and you have a fluffy, silky frosting. If the mixture turns soupy, just keep whipping! It will firm up. Once your chocolate has cooled enough that it won’t melt the butter in the frosting (it should still be melted but not very warm), whip it into the frosting until well-combined.

5. Assemble the cake! Trim the tops of your cake layers if they are domed so that you can stack the cakes evenly together. Spread a thin layer of frosting on the first layer, then stack the second layer and coat the entire cake with a thin layer of frosting, smoothing off the excess. Chill the cake for 20-30 minutes in the fridge to set the crumb coat, then frost with remaining frosting as you like. There will be enough frosting for fully covering the cake plus piping decorations.

6. If you are making mint leaves, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in 15-second increments in the microwave until you can stir it into a smooth, melted consistency. Using a clean paintbrush, thickly coat the back of the mint leaves with chocolate and lay flat to set or drape on the handle of a wooden spoon. Pop in the fridge to set completely, then carefully peel off the mint leaves to reveal your chocolate leaves! You will want to use more chocolate than you think, if they are too thin they will break easily when you try to detach the mint. Decorate with your chocolate leaves as you wish!

Notes:

• DO NOT attempt to sample the caramelized white chocolate when it comes out of the microwave. I shouldn’t have to warn you, but it will smell incredible, so don’t be tempted! That chocolate is molten.

• You can make the frosting ahead of time and chill it, well covered, in the fridge. Just bring it back to room temperature and rewhip a bit. However, since there is cooled chocolate in the frosting, you may not get it back fully to the original texture or color. You can see this in the photos above. I piped the frosting roses immediately after making the frosting and froze them, and then frosted the cake the next day. It worked out and I liked the color contrast, but the texture definitely suffered a bit.

• The frosting recipe is in grams, because Jemma is British, and I didn’t measure the cups equivalent when baking, sorry! But really, why aren’t you baking with a scale??

Icelandic Skyr Butter

Captain’s Log: Covid Date 16, we have been isolating for over two weeks at this point, leaving home only to exercise or brave the grocery store. Supplies are plentiful, if not up to usual standards. Internet service remains spotty, one puzzle has been completed, zero books read, and-

Ok, I’ll stop, because if you didn’t also decide that now was the perfect time to finally watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, then you won’t find my Picard impression entertaining out of context. I just wrote it and I’ll admit it wasn’t funny even in context. But, side note: I’m 3.5 seasons into the show, and wow the Enterprise crew encountered a lot of strange alien viruses, didn’t they?

Star Captains, they’re just like us!

Anyway, hello from Social Distancing 2020! I figured now is a good time to finally tell you about some delicious things I cooked and baked last year, since I don’t really have the excuse anymore of being too busy to write. None of us are really too busy these days, unless of course, you work on the frontlines in a medical, food delivery, grocery, or other capacity. In which case, THANK YOU. It really can’t be said enough (and honestly probably isn’t).

If you couldn’t tell from my last post, I am carb-loading through this emotional roller coaster and I think we should all give ourselves permission to do so.

Speaking of carbs, here’s a fun story! Claire read my list of what I’ve been eating and found it so hilarious she decided to Face-Time me in the middle of the day on Monday to tell me. You know what’s really great for stress right now? Unexpected, out of the ordinary calls from your sister in the middle of the day. Especially when her first words to you are “I’m crying!”

Turns out, she was crying from laughing so hard at the image of me stuffing my face with banana bread, so I promptly hung up on her and went back to the work meeting I had paused because oh my god my sister is calling she never does that I hope everything is ok.

Ahem. So, yes, the carb-loading. I am not the only one doing this. How do I know? Well, my local grocery store’s shelves were absolutely bare of almost all flour today when I finally got inside. There was not a single bag of flour to be found except the flour alternatives. Apparently this very real pandemic has cured the gluten one.

But the people are baking!

Baked goods often need butter, don’t they? So, almost a year later, now seems like the perfect time to share my version of what I think of as Icelandic butter.

Is that what they call it in Iceland? I don’t know, but my sister, Mom and I encountered it at nearly every meal we ate last May, on a trip that feels like a lifetime ago now. From our first bread basket at the Blue Lagoon to our last dinner, we were served fluffy, whipped butter, lightened with skyr (Icelandic yogurt), and garnished with salt. We had many fantastic meals on that trip, but I became a little obsessed with this butter! I knew I would make it as soon as I returned home. I even bought a container of birch salt to bring home with me for the ultimate, authentic garnish.

So, if you are filling your time these days with more baking than usual, try this butter! It’s fantastic slathered on a plain piece of good bread, or I’m sure would be great on muffins or pancakes (maybe sans finishing salt) or on cornbread or banana bread. Anything you want to spread some butter on, try this!

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Whipped Skyr Butter

For the butter:

• 4 tbs European style salted butter, softened

• 2 tbs plain skyr, or other plain, thick yogurt (preferably full fat), room temperature

• finishing salt, such as Maldon, or a flavored variety (optional)

• bread, for serving

1. In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a mixer, add the softened butter and skyr. If mixing by hand, mash the two together until combined, then vigorously whip to incorporate as much air as possible. If using a stand mixer, whip with the whisk attachment until the mixture is light and fluffy and very, very pale.

2. To serve, scoop butter into a serving dish and sprinkle with finishing salt, if using. Serve generously with good, crusty bread.

Notes:

• You want the skyr and the butter to be roughly the same temperature, or for the skyr to at least not be cold from the fridge, so it doesn’t harden the butter when you mix the two together.

• Butter can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks. It will harden when chilled but should soften to a light, fluffy consistency again when brought to room temperature.

• Want to use up the rest of your skyr? Try it in pancakes!