Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
April 17th, 2012
Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting.
I have a thing for coffee cake. Doesn’t everyone? This particular version is an ode to fall, and a wonderful option for Thanksgiving breakfast.
They really wanted me to make something “Halloweeny.” And because Pia was involved, it had to be chocolate. I thought about my poor old whoopie pie pan that hasen’t been used since this.
Applesauce snuck into my cupcakes last week. And it tasted wonderful ☺
This is sort of a two part post. The first today, and the second (apple maple cupcakes) tomorrow morning. They go hand in hand because they are both cupcakes, they are both versions of the same recipe, and they were both part of my Spooky Halloween Dessert Buffet earlier this week, and again on my little tv spot Tuesday.
These cakes were inspired by Halloween! When I thought about what I wanted to make for my Spooky Halloween Dessert Buffet, a “blood thirsty” red velvet shot straight to the top of my list!
These cupcakes feel like the perfect fusion of summer and the ever-closer autumn. They are packed with the moist shredded zucchini that is still growing rampant in the Northwest, and then the cake and frosting are both lightly spiced which throws a nod towards the cozy months to follow.
The summer squash, I treat very much like I would a zucchini. And I love to bake with zucchini (see my chocolate zucchini cake , or spiced zucchini bread ). So I thought I would make a loaf cake/ bread using both my plentiful sour lemon juice, and also my yellow summer squash.
This is the cake I brought to a recent “joint birthday”. It was a triple-decker Strawberry Cake with Vanilla Frosting. We still have tons of ripe gorgeous strawberries and the berries coming from the local strawberry farms are so beautiful and sweet. I pureed them and baked them right into the vanilla cake batter. The cake is not too sweet, and when it is paired with sweet tartness of the strawberries and the super sweet vanilla frosting, it is wonderful.
This is a dense, dark chocolate cake made extra moist and banana-y from the banana puree. I also added the tiniest bit of cardamom to complement and echo the chocolate and caramel flavors.