Monkey Business

Homemade biscuits Monkey bread

This month the I made it challenge was to make a monkey bread. This was the first time I heard about it! So I was really looking forward to taste it.

But I encountered one big problem: All the recipes that I found for Monkey bread listed 2 or 3 cans of buttermilk biscuits and I couldn’t find those anywhere. So I decided to make my own, but then, of course, I couldn’t find buttermilk… So I choose a recipe for basic biscuits and once those were done, I proceeded with the recipe for monkey bread. I imagine, the texture is a bit different, but I was very happy with the result.

It seemed to me that it was a little dry, so I made a caramel sauce to go with it and at that point I lost consciousness… it was amazing!!

The biscuits recipe is from all recipes.com, the monkey bread is from The Pioneer woman and the Caramel Sauce from My baking addiction.

Thank you Ange for introducing me to this amazing recipe, I’ll be baking this bread again and again…

Monkey Bread

I halved this recipe, but I’m giving you the complete version.

Ingredients

• 3 cans Buttermilk Biscuits (the Non-flaky Ones).
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 teaspoons (to 3 Teaspoons) Cinnamon
• 2 sticks Butter
• ½ cup Brown Sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 ºF 180 ºC.

Cut each unbaked biscuit into quarters.

Next, combine the white sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. (3 teaspoons of cinnamon gives it a fairly strong cinnamon flavor. If you’re not so hot on cinnamon, cut it back to 2 teaspoons.) Dump these into a 1 gallon zip bag and shake to mix evenly.

Drop all of the biscuit quarters into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Once all the biscuit quarters are in the bag seal it and give it a vigorous shake. This will get all those pieces unstuck from one another and nicely coated with cinnamon-sugar. Spread these nuggets out evenly in the bundt pan.

Melt the two sticks of butter together with ½ cup of brown sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. This can be light or dark brown sugar. Cook butter/sugar mixture, stirring for a few minutes until the two become one. Once the brown sugar butter has become one color, you can pour it over the biscuits.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep dark brown on top. When it’s finished cooking, remove it from the oven. If you have the willpower, allow it to cook for about 15-30 minutes before turning it over onto a plate.

Basic Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup shortening
• ¾ cup milk

Directions

In a large mixing bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Pour milk into flour mixture while stirring with a fork. Mix in milk until dough is soft, moist and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and toss with flour until no longer sticky. Roll dough out into a ½ inch thick sheet and cut with a floured biscuit or cookie cutter. Press together unused dough and repeat rolling and cutting procedure.

Homemade Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup heavy cream, heated until warm
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

In a heavy saucepan (at least 5 cup capacity), stir together the sugar, syrup, and water until the sugar is completely moistened.

Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is bubbling. Stop stirring completely and allow it to boil undisturbed until it turns a deep amber (like the color of Bass Ale). Immediately remove it from the heat and slowly and carefully pour the hot cream into the caramel. It will bubble up furiously.

Use a high-temperature heat-resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir the mixture until smooth, scraping up the thicker part that settles on the bottom. If any lumps develop, return the pan to the heat and stir until they dissolve. Stir in the butter and salt. The mixture will be streaky but become uniform after cooling slightly and stirring.

Allow the sauce to cool for 3 minutes. Gently stir in the vanilla extract.

Enjoy!

Hazelnut and chocolate cupcakes

A few months ago I bought a small but wonderful cookbook: The Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes and muffins. Since then I have wanted to recreate these recipes and with the arrival of the New Year I decided it was time to start.

What I love about this book is its simplicity. The ingredients are simple, the preparation is easy, the frosting is very quick to make and, finally, the decor is marvelous, it only takes a small spatula or a knife to conquer.

The first recipe chosen is for making these delicious hazelnut and chocolate cupcakes, they are perfection. I’m sure you will fall in love with these and each one of the following recipes.

The Hummingbird Bakery’s hazelnut and chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients

• 100 g flour
• 2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 140 g of extra fine sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 40g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 120 ml of milk
• 1 egg
• 120 g of chocolate hazelnut cream (Nutella style)

Hazelnut and chocolate frosting

• 250g icing sugar
• 80g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 80 g of hazelnut and chocolate cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 170 º C (325 º F)

Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in an electric mixer and beat at low speed until you get a crumbly mixture.

Slowly add the milk, beating well until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Add the egg and beat again. Scrape the edges with a spatula to make sure all ingredients are well blended.

Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with paper cases and fill them with the mixture but only up to ²/₃ full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched.  Leave them to cool slightly in the pan and then place over a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cold, make a small hole in the middle of each one and fill it with hazelnut and chocolate cream. Finally cover with the following frosting.

Hazelnut and chocolate frosting

Beat the icing sugar and butter over medium-low speed until the mixture is well combined. Turn down the mixer speed and slowly pour the milk, then when everything is well incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

Stir in the hazelnut and chocolate cream by hand until evenly mixed. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting on top. Here’s the link to get the signature Hummingbird frosting swirl.

Enjoy!

Fabada Asturiana or Asturian bean stew

Early this year I mentioned that one of my resolutions for 2013 was to make some of the recipes that were more challenging for me. Well, within the Spanish culinary tradition we can find a few of those dishes, especially within the stews. Cocido madrileño, lebaniego or maragato, Callos, Ollas or fabadas are good examples.

In order to be true to that New Year’s resolution, I decided to make a real Fabada Asturiana (Asturian bean stew) a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately everything went well from start to end, so I can proudly say that I succeeded in my first attempt.

The verdict: The fabada is actually a very simple dish. The only really important thing is the quality of the ingredients, well, that and time.

Hope you like it as much as we do.

Ingredients

• 500 gr white, broad beans from La Granja, dried
• 2 Asturian chorizos *
• 2 Asturian blood sausages *
• 100 gr of lacon (pig’s shoulder ham) *
• 100 gr of streaky bacon *
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• Parsley
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• Salt to taste

* All these meats together are called Compango

Directions

Put the beans to soak in cold water the night before or at least 12 hours before cooking time.

Place at the bottom of a large pot, the meats (chorizo, sausage, lacon and bacon), cover with the beans and lay on top of that, the peeled onions, whole garlic cloves, parsley and bay leaves. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil.

When it starts to boil, degrease and remove impurities that rise to the surface as a foam. Then “scare” the beans (this means, add a bit of cold water to stop the boiling), lower the heat to a minimum and let simmer, with the pot partially covered.

During cooking, we’ll have to “scare them” again (about 2 more times). The beans should always be covered with the broth. To stir the stew, do a little shaking with the pot, avoiding the use of ladles to prevent the beans to break.

Cook for 3 hours. The stew is ready when the beans are tender.

Halfway through cooking, add the saffron, a few strands will suffice and it is advisable to toast them a bit before throwing into the stew.

If after three hours the broth is still too clear, take out a few broad beans and crush them with a fork. Bring this mash to the stew again and turn up the heat for a few minutes until it thickens.

When the beans are ready, check the salt and correct if necessary. It is not advisable to add the salt before, because the meats are already salted.

Before serving let stand for a few minutes, take out onion, garlic (if you find it), bay leaves and parsley. Also, take out the meats and cut into pieces.

Enjoy!

Oh, almost forgot! The next day the Fabada tastes even better…

Nooks and crannies

Nooks and crannies

Last week, my daughter Isabel informed me that she “needed” 26 English muffins to take to school for Wednesday. It was 7:00 pm on Tuesday…

After a few minutes of lecturing her on the importance of organizing the time and how he could not tell me about things like that with so little forewarning, blah, blah, blah … I started to make muffins. I had never cooked them and I really wanted to do it, but of course, I did not tell that to Isabel

Before I started, I needed to find the right recipe and after a lot of surfing, I chose Alton Brown’s, because his version is quite faithful to the classic recipe and it succeeded in achieving the famous nooks and crannies that are so important for purist of English muffins.

I loved the fact that they are surprisingly easy and fun to make, I loved that they are baked on a griddle rather than in the oven, and I loved the fact that I was able to make the requested 26, with a few spares for the photo-shoot the next day.

Ingredients

• ½ cup non-fat powdered milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 envelope dry yeast
• ¹/₈ teaspoon sugar
• ¹/₃ cup warm water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• Non-stick vegetable spray

Special equipment: griddle, 3-inch (8 centimeters) metal rings or small tuna cans with tops and bottoms removed.

Directions

In a bowl combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, ½ teaspoon of salt, shortening, and hot water, stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and ¹/₈ teaspoon of sugar in ¹/₃ cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved. Add this to the dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

Preheat the griddle over medium-low heat (or to 300 ºF if electric).

Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat thoroughly. Place metal rings onto the griddle and coat lightly with vegetable spray. Using #20 ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops into each ring and cover with a pot lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool. Split with fork and serve.

Because I had to make so many muffins and they were only for tasting, I decided to use some small rings I had at home. The result were these  tall and beautiful fun size muffins. Kids loved them!

Enjoy!

Experiment # 1: Roscón de Reyes

I, despite having a degree in law, studied science in high school, so scientific experiments are not a secret to me. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but I really like to experiment, especially in the kitchen.

Normally I only write about my successful “experiments” and left to others forgotten in the dark.

My intention this year is to write about these recipes or dishes that have been a taboo for me for quite some time now, either because I’m unable to achieve its perfect state or just because I’ve been too afraid to even try…

My first experiment of the year was a Roscón de Reyes, a very Spanish tradition to celebrate the visit of the Three Wise Men.

I chose the recipe from a Spanish blog called Javirecetas because normally his recipes are very well explained and taste good.

Here’s a collage with the main steps and the final result.

The verdict: Unfortunately, something went wrong at some point, because although the flavor was good, my dough didn’t rise as much as it should and the outer texture was a little rough.

My theories: The milk wasn’t hot enough and the yeast didn’t activate properly. Lack of kneading.

But it’s okay, because I have decided (too) that these experiments can only end in success. So tomorrow I’ll get back to work, this time following the recipe of Iñaki Oyarbide or Angelita Alfaro …I’ll see.

Defeat is not an option! Wish me luck!

PS.: Once I succeed with the recipe I’ll translate it (if necessary) and post it

The Cider House Rules

“Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England”

Last May, a blogger friend, Blaga from Broken Sparkles, dedicated a post with two recipes to Bluejellybeans. One was this delicious Triple chocolate cheesecake and the second one was an outstanding recipe for Cider Chicken with Tagliatelle. It only took me 7 months to make it, but I assure you that it will take a lot less to you.

Although the recipe calls for tagliatelle, I made it with spaghetti because it was all I had at home …Sorry Blaga!

This recipe is from Patrick Anthony, of “Ready Steady Cook”.

Cider Chicken with Tagliatelle

Ingredients

• 400 g long pasta, ideally tagliatelle
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 400 g chicken breasts, skinless, cut into chunks
• 210 ml dry cider
• 1 ½ tbsp. wholegrain mustard
•  15 g butter
•  1 large leek, halved lengthways and finely sliced across
•  80 g mushrooms, sliced
•  100 ml double cream
•  1 tbsp. chives, snipped to garnish

Directions

Cook pasta according to package instructions.  Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp. oil in a pan and fry chicken for 8 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden all round.  Add cider and mustard.  Season and simmer for 5-7 minutes until slightly reduced.

Melt butter in another pan, add remaining oil and cook leek for 3 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes. Add leek and mushrooms to chicken, stir in cream and simmer for 2 minutes.

Toss cider chicken with tagliatelle.  Garnish with chives (or parsley) and serve.

Blaga suggested serving this meal with a green salad and garlic and herb bread.

Enjoy!

Chorizo ​​with cider

Seeing that I still had some cider left, I decided to make some chorizos in cider, a tapa very popular here in Spain and typical from the Principality of Asturias. It seems incredible how easy it is to make these chorizos, and they taste so good.

But of course the key to this dish is in the quality of the feedstock. Choose a good quality chorizo and cider.

Ingredients

• 3 chorizos
• 1 glass of cider
• Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Cut the chorizo into medium size slices, put them in a pan with a little bit of oil and sauté over medium heat until golden brown on all sides.

Add the cider and turn up the heat until it boils, then lower the heat and let it simmer until the cider reduces, about 30 minutes.

To serve, use an earthenware casserole and accompany with bread. Or serve directly over a slice of bread as a one bite tapa.

Bacalao con papas estilo panameño

Esta receta la publiqué en mi blog en abril del año pasado. Es una de mis recetas favoritas porque mi madre solía prepararlo para nosotros cuando éramos niños. Como más me gusta es con arroz blanco, entonces ya estamos hablando de palabras mayores.

Espero que os guste este recordatorio de otra receta básica de la cocina panameña. Para la semana que viene estoy preparando un o dos recetas pensadas para Thanksgiving que ya está aquí a la vuelta de la esquina.

Bacalao con papas

Recordad que antes de cocinarlo, el bacalao seco y en salazón debe ser puesto en remojo en agua muy fría durante unas 24 horas, cambiándole el agua al menos 3 veces durante este proceso. Una vez que ya esté desalado procederemos como se indica en la receta.

Espero que os guste esta receta que he intentado hacer tal cual la preparaba mi madre cuando era pequeña allá en mi querido Panamá.

Ingredientes

• 400 gramos de bacalao
• 4 patatas medianas
• 4 zanahorias de buen tamaño
• 1 cebolla
• 4 dientes de ajo
• Cilantro, perejil, sal y pimienta al gusto
• 2 cucharadas de tomate frito (salsa de tomate)
• Aceite de oliva
• Pimientos asados para decorar

Procedimiento

Pelamos y cortamos las patatas y las zanahorias y las ponemos a cocer en agua con sal, juntas o separadas, pero teniendo en cuenta los distintos tiempos de cocción. Escurrimos y reservamos.

Ponemos a hervir el bacalao en abundante agua con un diente ajo, unos veinte minutos. Cuando esté listo, lo escurrimos y dejamos refrescar, luego lo desmenuzamos asegurándonos de quitar la piel y las espinas si las hubiera. Reservamos.

En una sartén grande preparamos un sofrito con la cebolla y los dientes de ajo bien picaditos, cuando estén suaves añadimos el bacalao desmenuzado y el tomate frito  y lo removemos un poco para que se impregne bien del sabor, añadiremos más aceite de oliva si hiciese falta. Después añadimos el cilantro  y el perejil ( aproximadamente 1/4 taza si son frescos y una cucharada si son secos). Removemos otra vez y ahora incorporamos las papas y las zanahorias, comprobamos el punto de sal y condimentamos con pimienta. Un último meneíto y ¡listo!

Lo podemos adornar con pimientos morrones asados.

¡Qué aproveche!

Carimañolas (bis)

Esta es una de las recetas panameñas más populares entre mis amigos, una vez que las prueban no paran de pedirme que vuelva a hacerlas.

La primera vez que publiqué esta receta fue en el verano de 2011 y pasó un poco desapercibida, pero espero que esta vez la gente se dé cuenta de que ¡son sencillamente increíbles!

Las carimañolas son una especie de croqueta de tamaño mediano hecha con puré de yuca y rellena de carne picada condimentada (también se pueden rellenar de queso o pollo). Es frecuente tomarlas para desayunar, pero en cualquier momento del día se pueden disfrutar porque las podemos comprar en carros ambulantes de venta de comida y comerlas on the go.

Ingredientes

• 1 kilo de yuca
• 500 g. de carne picada
• 1 pimiento verde picadito
• 1 cebolla mediana picadita
• 1 tomate mediano picado
• 1 huevo duro
• Un ramillete de cilantro (culantro) picadito
• Sal, pimienta y picante al gusto
• Aceite para freír

Procedimiento

Poner a cocer la yuca pelada y cortada en trozos en agua con sal hasta que esté blanda. Mientras tanto ponemos en una cacerola la carne picada a dorar, junto con la cebolla, el pimiento, tomate y el cilantro (culantro), cuando todo esté hecho, 15 minutos más o menos, podemos añadir el huevo duro picadito.

Cuando la yuca esté lista, la hacemos puré y la amasamos junto con dos cucharadas de aceite.  Para formar la carimañola haremos bolitas de masa de yuca y luego la aplastamos un poco, colocamos en el medio una cucharada de relleno y cerramos, sacando dos puntas a los lados.

Finalmente las freímos en aceite muy caliente hasta que estén doradas.  Para ganar en consistencia se le puede poner un huevo batido a la masa.

Espero que os gusten y que la hagáis en casa y si queréis probar una variante muy rica, id a echar un vistazo a estas Papas rellenas estilo Cubano.

¡Buen provecho!

Pastel de Zanahoria

Desde hace años tiendo a vigilar lo que como, porque en cuanto me paso me inflo como un globo (¡maldita genética!), así que en las raras ocasiones en las que salimos a cenar fuera, o a comer o simplemente a tomar un café, me doy un capricho y ordeno el postre más decadente que tengan en el menú: tarta de queso, brownie, tarta de chocolate, … y no presto la mínima atención a cualquier cosa que parezca sano y/o dietético, nada de ensaladitas de fruta, ni frutas de temporada ni pasteles de zanahoria … hasta ahora.

El otro día me decidí a hacer uno de estos pasteles de zanahoria, pero no porque tuviese antojo de él, sino porque es uno de esos pasteles que cualquier persona que aspire a conocer y disfrutar de la cocina americana debe saber hacer.

Y grande, no, no grande, enorme fue mi sorpresa cuando probé un trocito… ¡madre mía! ¡Estaba buenísimo! Bueno, y ya ni os cuento lo que dijeron los niños cuando les dije que el pastel que acababan de terminarse era de zanahoria, jejeje. Ahora sé por qué incluso Starbucks tiene su propia versión.

En resumen, ahora que lo he probado no hay vuelta atrás, ¡me encanta el pastel de zanahoria! Próxima receta de estas de las que dudo enormemente: pastel de calabaza. ¿Estará tan buena como dicen? Ya os contaré.

Ingredientes

Pastel de Zanahoria

• 1 taza (100 gramos) de nueces (las pacanas son muy caros aquí y difíciles de encontrar, pero apuesto a que estará aún mejor con ellas)
• 340 gramos de zanahorias crudas (aproximadamente 2 ½ tazas finamente rallada)
• 2 tazas (260 gramos) de harina
• 1 cucharadita de bicarbonato de sodio
• 1 ½ cucharaditas de polvo de hornear
• ½ cucharadita de sal
• 1 ½ cucharaditas de canela
• Una pizca de nuez moscada
• 4 huevos grandes
• 1 ½ tazas (300 gramos) de azúcar granulada blanca
• 1 taza (240 ml) de aceite (cualquier aceite sin sabor servirá)
• 2 cucharaditas de extracto de vainilla puro

Buttercream de queso crema

• 1 taza (228 gramos) de mantequilla sin sal, a temperatura ambiente
• 227 gramos (8 oz) de queso crema, a temperatura ambiente
• 2 cucharaditas de extracto de vainilla
• 4 tazas (460 gramos) de azúcar glas

Procedimiento

Carrot Cake

Precalentamos el horno a 350 º F (180 º C) y colocamos la bandeja  en el centro del horno. Engrasamos un molde redondo (23 x 33 x 5 cm) y cubrimos el fondo con un círculo de papel de horno.

Tostamos las nueces durante unos 8 minutos o hasta que estén ligeramente doradas y fragantes. Dejamos enfriar y luego picamos en trozos grandes.

Pelamos y rallamos finamente las zanahorias.

En otro tazón mezclamos la harina, el bicarbonato de sodio, polvo de hornear, la sal, la nuez moscada y la canela en polvo.

Batimos los huevos hasta que estén espumosos (aproximadamente 1 minuto). Poco a poco agregamos el azúcar y batimos hasta que la mezcla esté espesa y de un color claro (unos 3 – 4 minutos). Añadimos el aceite en un chorro constante y luego el extracto de vainilla. Agregamos la mezcla de harina y batimos hasta que se incorpore bien. Con una espátula mezclamos las zanahorias ralladas y las nueces picadas con movimiento envolventes. Vertemos la mezcla en el molde preparado y horneamos de 30 a 40 minutos o hasta que al insertar un palillo en el centro salga limpio.

Retiramos del horno y dejamos enfriar sobre una rejilla. Después de unos 5 ó 10 minutos le damos la vuelta al molde sobre la rejilla. Retiramos el molde y el papel de horno y dejamos enfriar totalmente antes de decorar.

Buttercream de queso crema

En un cuenco, batimos la mantequilla a velocidad baja durante varios minutos hasta que esté esponjosa, raspando los lados del tazón de vez en cuando.

Agregamos el queso crema y la vainilla y mezclamos a velocidad baja por un minuto.

Añadimos el azúcar en polvo una taza a la vez y batimos a temperatura baja hasta que se mezclen bien. Después de haber añadido la última taza, subimos la velocidad de la batidora a ay batimos en alto durante un minuto o dos para hacerla más esponjosa y ligera.

Para decorar el pastel, apliqué una primera capa de buttercream (crema de mantequilla) y la dejé reposar durante un rato, luego añadí la segunda capa e hice mi mejor esfuerzo para que quedara presentable. Hice las zanahorias y el conejo con fondant, pero se puede utilizar también mazapán. Ambos muy fáciles de hacer. Para el tutorial del conejito se puede visitar el blog de Little wheelz.

La receta de la tarta de zanahoria es de Joy of baking (con la única variación de la nuez moscada y el buttercream) y la del Buttercream es de The misadventures of Mrs. B  (la cual tiene mucha razón, su receta es realmente deliciosa).

¡Qué aproveche!

Carrot Cake

I’m always careful with what I eat, because I have a tendency to put on weight very easily (damn you genetics!), so on those rare occasions when I go out for lunch, coffee or dinner, I indulge myself and order the most decadent desserts in the house, cheesecake, brownie, chocolate cake…and always ignore anything with the slight appearance of healthy food, no fruit salads for me nor carrot cakes…until now.

The other day I decided to bake a carrot cake, but only because it is one of those cakes anyone who aspires to know and enjoy American cuisine should know how to make.

And big, (no, not big, huge) was my surprise when I try a tiny slice of that cake… amazing! Really, now I know why even Starbucks has its own version.  So now I am converted and belong to the carrot cake’s flock. In my next night out I’m definitely going to order carrot cake if they have it the menu and will not stop until I find one that is at least as good as this one

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

• 1 cup (100 grams) walnuts (pecans are so expensive here and hard to find, but I bet it will be even better with them)
• 340 grams raw carrots (about 2 ½ cups finely grated)
• 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) oil (any flavorless oil will do, like safflower, vegetable or canola)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Buttercream

• 1 cup (228 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8 oz. (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups (460 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar

Directions

Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray a 9 x 13 x 2 inch (23 x 33 x 5 cm) pan and line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper.

Toast the walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Peel and finely grate the carrots.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and ground cinnamon.

In bowl of electric, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 – 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots and chopped nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cake onto the wire rack, remove the pan and parchment paper, and then cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

In the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment, beat butter on low speed for several minutes until fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Add cream cheese and vanilla and mix on low speed for a minute.

Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined after each addition.  Once last cup is added, whip frosting on high for a minute or two to make it extra fluffy and light.

To decorate the cake, I applied a first coat of buttercream and let it set for a while, and then I added the second coat and tried my best to make it presentable. I made carrots and bunny with fondant, but you can use also marzipan. Both very easy to make. For the bunny tutorial you may visit The little wheelz blog.

The carrot cake recipe is from Joy of baking (with the little variation of the nutmeg and buttercream) and the buttercream from The misadventures of Mrs. B (she’s right, it is really delicious!).

Enjoy!