Holy Moley Guacamole

I love guacamole almost as much as I love cupcakes. I recently ran across this recipe while watching Oprah. I quickly grabbed a pen and paper to jot it down. Not sure if I wrote the recipe down exact, but it turned out great and is now my favorite guacamole recipe. It is so flavorful, with the perfect amount of heat.

Guacamole
4 avacados
1/4 cup white onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro
6 T fresh lime juice
2 t kosher salt
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
Mash avacados with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I enjoyed the carrot cake I made the other day so much that I decided to try it with cupcakes. I had no idea how they would turn out. I had never had a carrot cake cupcake before. Much to my surprise they turned out fantastic and were every bit as good as a slice of carrot cake! I followed the recipe exactly and they were ridiculously easy to make. I will definitely be making these again very soon!

Carrot Cake Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups finely shredded carrots

8 oz can crushed pineapple (drained)

1/2 cup coconut

1 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

Grease cake pan(s). I always spray my round cake pan with Wilton's Bake Easy Nonstick Spray and then I place a piece of parchment paper (cut in the same size as the bottom of the cake pan - a circle) at the bottom of the pan. In doing this, I never have problems with my cake sticking to the inside of the pan. With cupcakes, I just use cupcake liners (this recipe yields about 32 cupcakes).

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add carrots, pineapple, coconut, oil, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer till combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan or cupcake pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 60-75 minutes or until center of cake is no longer jiggly. For cupcakes, bake about 20 minutes. This particular recipe always takes a long time to bake. Much longer than a box cake because it is a much heavier cake. Just use your best judgement in regards to the baking time. Once the cake is finished baking, let it cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes and then carefully remove cake from pan. Cool completely then frost as desired with Cream Cheese Frosting (see recipe below).

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat together two 3 oz packages cream cheese, softened; 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened; and 2 teaspoons vanilla till light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups additional sifted powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency. This recipe makes the perfect amount to frost cupcakes, but you will need to double it if you are frosting and layering an entire cake. Just for fun I used leftover frosting and mixed it with orange and green food coloring to create a little carrot on top. I used Wilton decorating tip 2D to ice the cupcake and Wilton tips 1 and 3 to pipe the carrot.

Simply the best!!

There is one cake that I will always make from scratch...a carrot cake. This is my absolute favorite type of cake! Although I have never actually tried a box of carrot cake mix I just can't imagine that it even comes close to one made from scratch. I have tried a few different carrot cake recipes, but this one has always been my favorite. The recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and it is a great one to add to your collection. It is fairly simple to make, tastes unbelievablably delicious, and is a very impressive looking cake.

I just made this cake the other day and it was fabulous!. My parents are visiting from the States and I know that my mom shares the same love that I have for carrot cake, so I decided to make one. Everyone loved it (even my kids). I'm all about adding layers to a cake especially when it involves cream cheese frosting. I used this 8 inch round cake pan from Wilton and a cake leveler. I highly recommend both of these items when baking and layering any type of cake. This particular carrot cake turned out perfectly in this pan. Usually I have to trim off the top, when baking a round cake, to make it nice and even. Not this time. No trimming was necessary! We got to enjoy every last bit of the carrot cake! Due to blogging technical difficulties, I will share this super yummy recipe in a separate post (very soon, I promise).