Page 98: Carrot Cupcakes

It's been so long since I actually made these cupcakes that I have to take a minute to jog my memory about the endeavor. I'm sorry... I've been busy. Okay, I remember. Let's go...

So first of all, BIG props to my amazing food processor! I love having this thing and it made grating three cups of carrots a cinch. Removing the orange tinge from the bowl was the only semi-annoying part of that ordeal.

These cupcakes included spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.  I'm not a fan of ginger... at ALL... but I do not dare depart from the recipes during my adventure through the book so I put it in and, of course, they were still delicious. I think the cinnamon and nutmeg covered it up. It may also have a little bit to do with the fact I went a little light on the ginger and no, I do not consider that cheating.

Bottom line: these were very yummy. But still not like cupcakes. Still more like a dense tea cake. They could be lighter and definitely more moist. I did discover that if I don't fill the muffin cups too full it helps a lot because in the end the frosting to cupcake ratio is more appropriate that way. However, I didn't do this on the first batch so I improvised by serving them to the girls at girls night like this:

And... this is the ONLY picture I have. So sorry. I guess I need to invite Kim over when I bake to appropriately document the process!

I also think I could maybe bake them for a little less time and that might help make them less dry. There may also be some secret about "cupcake tins" as opposed to "muffin tins". The latter of which I guess I own. Or maybe not. I cannot tell from this slightly cryptic explanation in the front of the BabyCakes NYC book:

Muffin cups are slightly larger than cupcake cups, by about 1 inch in diameter. Because these vary in size, try to get the correct one for each recipe to ensure accurate baking times.

Does anyone understand this? Is she talking about the Texas size muffin tins or is there really a third size of muffin tins out there? If you get this or know anything about it, please interpret for me and, just possibly, save my cupcakes. Thank you.

One great thing about this bake session is that I think I finally mastered the frosting. Even if it isn't easy. The process seems to be, for me and my kitchen equipment at least, as follows:

1. Mix liquid ingredients in the blender

2. Slowly add coconut oil and lemon, as directed

3. Once the mix gets to thick for your blender, pour into a bowl and mix the rest of the oil in by hand. (Really need that VitaMix... I'm convinced it will change my life. Much like the food processor I love.)

4. Chill

5. Once fully chilled, pour into food processor and blend. If it's still too thin, add a little more coconut oil which, when it comes in contact with the chilled frosting, will thicken the mix.

6. FROST! Yay!

See, simple? Well, okay, not simple. But at least it's predictable. I'm good with that for now.

Page 57: Banana Bread/Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Early Sunday morning while hubby was out for a sunrise surf session, I decided to whip up a yummy BabyCakes treat for breakfast. Flipping through the book, I happened upon the banana bread. Not having ventured into the tea cakes chapter yet, I thought banana bread was a perfect choice.

The recipe was for just the banana bread, but in the description Erin McKenna recommends throwing in a cup of chocolate chips. "You will not be sorry" she declares. Okay then... mine became banana chocolate chip bread.

The recipe was pretty standard - well, pretty standard for BabyCakes. You know the drill... gluten free four, xanthan gum, agave nectar. And, of course, coconut oil - which I have been using with such frequency that I recently ordered a seven pound vat of it from amazon.com.

When I got to the part in the recipe where you pour the batter into the bread pan, the following sentence struck me as somewhat odd: Fill the pan halfway with batter. See "Batter Spectacular" on page 63 for ideas for using leftover batter. I thought it was a little strange that the recipe had "extra batter", but who am I to question. So I obediently flipped to page 63 to see what was up.

The referenced "spectacular" paragraph on page 63 recommends lining a pan with parchment paper and spreading the batter out like a giant pancake (well, I made the pancake reference up on my own, but it works). So I did, and as you'll see in a bit it was a darn good thing I did.

The extra batter only has to bake for 10 minutes, while the entire loaf is supposed to bake for 35 minutes.  It being breakfast time and me being hungry, I had dug into the extra batter pancake long before the banana bread was finished. I was adequately impressed. I actually think next time I will leave out the chocolate chips because they really took over the flavor and I am a fan of a good, solid, plain old banana bread. But the extra batter was very moist, not too dense, and overall quite yummy.

Perhaps it was because I was so happily preoccupied with the extra batter pancake, but I completely destroyed the banana bread. Using the tried and true method, I checked the loaf with a toothpick at 20 minutes when I rotated it 180 degrees. As expected, the toothpick was not clean so I left it to bake the remaining 15 minutes. However, I didn't use a toothpick again at 35 minutes and instead just removed the beautifully golden brown loaf from the oven.

Big mistake. Despite the golden brown appearance, it was not yet ready to be retrieved.

I let it cool while we were out for the day and when we returned the sunken center made it quite obvious the top was still mostly batter. I sliced into it and verified the obvious. There was no saving it at that point.

So I am discovering that the baking times in the book are ... more like guidelines. Maybe it's my oven. Maybe, as my grandma recently suggested, it has something to do with the weather. Maybe I should just check it with a toothpick before I call it done.

Based on how good the extra batter and the sides of the loaf were, I will certainly try this again. But for now, moving on to carrot cupcakes - coming soon!

Page 77: Brownies

Or shall I say... brownie bites.  The book recommends that you make these little darlings in mini-muffin tins instead of in a casserole dish - so they come out in perfectly bite sized (or two bites for me!) gems. I was slightly preoccupied with making shish-kabobs and prepping for a Memorial Day BBQ so the pictures are minimal. My profuse apologies. You'll get the drift.

Mixing in the chocolate chips

The finished product - such cuties!

I loved these! They were so chocolately and rich! Brownie bites were actually the very first thing I tried from BabyCakes when I was in New York - and the homemade version did not disappoint.

And... I made another batch of chocolate chip cookie sandwiches - and this time I was able to practice enough self restraint that they were still around when our friends arrived for the BBQ. They came out slightly different this time, but everyone still loved them. The cookies were not as chewy - I still have some perfecting to do with those persnickety little things - and the frosting... simply DISASTROUS.

Seriously. Went straight to the food processor this time and the texture resembled that of curdled milk. I also partially blame my coconut oil. Anyway, thank goodness these babies are best frozen because the frosting never really acted like frosting.

These sandwiches have become something akin to a stubborn child. It seems the frosting needs some magical combination of blending followed by a turn in the food processor, but only after being blended and chilled. And no two sheets of cookies have turned out the same. Even I am not that high maintenance. I think maybe the solution lies in new Vita-Mix blender. I'll start working on talking to hubby into that one. I WILL master this!

Persnickety - but so worth it.

Page 126: Blackberry, Peach, and Oat Cobbler

To celebrate the end of our "absolutely zero sugar" diet last week, Kim joined us for dinner and I made cobbler for dessert on Friday night! It was wooooonnnnnderful! Even if there was only three tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 cup of agave nectar in the entire dish... trust me - it was perfect!

Mixing up the filling

Adding the yummy crumb topping

As Kim pointed out, it looks somewhat unbecoming in the before stage...

Before

After - golden delicious!

We topped it off with So Delicous Vanilla Bean (coconut milk) ice cream and enjoyed it warm. The hubby had seconds and told me I could tell you so... just so you know I'm not exaggerating the delicious factor. Everyone (yep, even him) approved.

So delicious! Both the blackberries and the peaches were very good so I'm sure that helped make it extra yummy.  Definitely a successful BabyCakes experience... and a treat perfectly worthy of bringing an end to the week of zero sugar!

Credit is due to Kim for her wonderful photography skills for this post! Thanks, Kim!