cookies are the key to world peace.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting :)

I made this same cake around the same time last year.  This time, I had a real purpose: my friend’s 21st birthday.  :)

What else went differently this time? 

1. Smaller cake + cupcakes
I didn’t want to overwhelm anybody with a huge, overbearing cake, so I decided to make a small 2-layer, (about) 2”-radius cake for my friend, and used the rest of the batter for cupcakes.  The cupcakes served as a great little mid-day/post-lunch treat for my roommates.  :)  

2. Thicker, better frosting
I’m finally getting a hang of this whole “frosting” thing.  I’m pretty sure I completely messed up the frosting last time (i.e. I didn’t have maple syrup sitting around, so I just tried to make frosting with cream cheese, powdered sugar, and butter only..).  I usually don’t have pure maple syrup just sitting around, so I substituted honey for the syrup.  Result?  A smooth, not-too-sweet frosting.  This frosting isn’t overwhelmingly sweet (like most store-bought frostings are); it allows the cream cheese to stand out and speak for itself, which makes the frosting so much more refreshing.  Also, this light frosting complements the carrot cake, rather than overpowering it in the realm of your taste buds.

What would I do differently next time?

More stuff.
I’m really hesitant to ever add nuts/dried fruits to baked things, because I’m always afraid someone might be allergic to nuts, or might just hate that certain dried fruit that I added to the recipe.  However, I think that carrot cake is made even more delicious when it includes hints of walnuts and raisins.  Next time, I’ll overcome my fears of displeasing people and toss in a cup or two of both raisins and walnuts.  Yum. :)

Here’s the recipe for the carrot cake and maple cream cheese icing.  Don’t lose it.  This recipe is so delicious that I’m confidently making it my go-to carrot cake recipe for the rest of my life (yes, it’s that good).  :)

Cream Cheese Wontons :)

Quite possibly the easiest type of wonton you can make.

Ingredients: cream cheese, red bell pepper, green onion, celery, red onion, salt.  All wrapped up in a wonton wrapper.  Yeah, it’s that easy!  

I used sweet chili as dipping sauce, which goes really well with the wontons.  My mom makes a sauce that complements the wontons much better than sweet chili — and if I ever remember it, I’ll be sure to share.  :)

Chocolate mascarpone brownies, covered in ganache. :)

I’ve been dying to use this recipe for months now.  The concept of using mascarpone cheese in a brownie recipe just sounded so fascinating (and delicious) to me.  But, to be honest, I always get super nervous whenever I plan to make brownies, because just about every attempt I’ve made at baking brownies from scratch has resulted in utter disaster.  I finally gathered the courage (and ingredients) to try out this recipe today, though — and I’m so glad!

This recipe is absolutely AMAZING.  If you’re looking for a recipe for a rich, moist, decadent, ridiculously-chocolatey brownie, this recipe is definitely for you.  The brownie base itself is delicious, but topping it off with chocolate ganache just pushed it over the top for me.  I decided to coat the bottoms of the brownies with powdered sugar, and the texture of the powdered sugar complemented the textures of the brownie and ganache perfectly.

I wish I could’ve taken better pictures of the brownies.  These definitely don’t do them any justice.  Oh well.

After tasting these brownies, I think I might start living by my sister’s motto:
“Life’s better dipped in ganache.” :)

Cupcake bites!

I just realized I never showed what the entire thing looks like.  So here you are!  These things are amazingly adorable.  They fit into your palm and can be eaten in one bite.  The bottoms are chocolate (I varied between milk and dark), and inside is dark chocolate cake.

I made them in yellow and green-topped on my own, and purple-topped with my sister (the purple was so pretty!).  The yellow was lemon-flavored, the green mint-flavored, and the purple vanilla-flavored.  Sorry I don’t have any photos of the green and purple ones!

These are, in my and my sister’s opinion, best eaten refrigerated.  But the texture’s definitely more easy to handle when they’re warm (when they’re refrigerated, the coating just falls apart when you start to take your first bite).

I think these would make awesome little gifts!  Especially considering that one “batch” yields about 80 of these little cupcake bites.  I actually gifted some to my friend for helping me move into my new dorm, and she fell in love with them.  I also gave one to a lady at the Southwest kiosk who let my bag pass even though it was a little overweight.. hehe.

I’m back on campus, and class starts tomorrow.  Unfortunately, this means it’ll probably be a while until I can bake again; funds are low (because they’re all getting sucked up by text book purchases), and time might be a little scarce with the mayhem of the first week.

I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen.

A sneak peek at what I have in store. :)

More to come later!

Pumpkin Roll: My first jelly roll cake! :)

A pumpkin cake rolled with cream cheese filling.  So, I definitely need to work on my rolling, but this isn’t too bad for my first try, right?  Haha.

Well, I got this recipe off the back of a Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin can label.  My mom absolutely loved it! I haven’t gotten any negative feedback from my test-tasters (and I find it pretty delicious myself), so I’m thinking this is a recipe to keep.

I have tons of pumpkin left over, though.. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies anybody?

I made my first double-layer frosted cake yesterday. :)

It was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  I really need to work on my frosting skills; my cake almost looks like a massacre.  I guess it’s my fault, considering I was too impatient to let the frosting chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes (I was on my way to bouldering at The Circuit, and I really wanted to have the cake cold and ready after I got back).

Of course, Rodney got the first taste of the cake (about 1/4 of the cake, actually.. haha).

The cake tasted just like a carrot cake should— packed with cinnamon, cloves, and carrots for a sweet and slightly spicy flavor.  The cream cheese frosting was more cream cheesy (and less sugary) than a usual cream cheese frosting.  It was delicious, and complimented the cake perfectly.

I was going to decorate the cake by lining the outter edge of the cake with shredded carrots, but I didn’t have time to do this before I sliced a huge chunk out for Rodney (haha).

All in all, this was an incredibly fun project with great results!  I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen (Deb is so amazing; she’s definitely one of my baking idols!).  I have another double-layer cake project brewing in my mind.. But I’ll have to save it for next week.  It’s actually going to be an early birthday gift to someone, so I really hope it goes well! (I’m pretty nervous..)