Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Carrot Cake Cupcakes for big uncle's 80th!

"These cupcakes are: moist, flavorful, tender, delicious, not too carroty, not too sweet, just dense enough, decadent and perfectly spiced."

I was so happy with how these carrot cake cupcakes turn out! I  halved the sugar and skipped the ginger in the cupcake recipe and found the sweetness to be just right. The texture was fluffy, moist and not a bit oily. Definitely redeemed myself from the previous semi-failed carrot cake bake.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
recipe adapted from Culinary Couture
makes 24 mini cupcakes and 9 regular cupcakes

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger* skipped
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup applesauce
3 large eggs, room temperature
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 and 1/2 cups finely grated carrots

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, stir together sugars, oil, and applesauce until smooth and well-blended. Mix in eggs and vanilla.

4. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing after each addition just until combined. 

5. Fold in grated carrots and chopped walnuts.
6. Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners, filling each one 2/3 of the way full. 

7. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

8. Cool cupcakes in tin for 5 minutes, then remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

left: dry; right: wet

dry + wet combined

grated carrots and chopped walnuts ready

mix mix mix

making minis!

Cream Cheese Frosting
recipe adapted from Honeysuckle

8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar*
a pinch of salt

1. In mixing bowl, add cream cheese and butter and mix it on medium speed with paddle attachment until it's nice and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes).
2. Add vanilla extract and continue beating for another minute.
3. Slowly add a pinch of salt and gradually (bit by bit) the powdered sugar. Continue beating until everything's mixed together.

*didn't exactly measured out 2 cups; probably used a little less and just add until smooth and thick consistency.

I dedicated the morning prior to the day of the birthday dinner to make these. I woke up and immediately slaved away hand grating the carrots. It was much more time consuming and tiring than I had anticipated. Next time will consider making carrot juice and using the scraps instead.

After grating, making the batter was a breeze. I had the cupcakes baked by lunch time. Enjoyed some banh mi with Fatty, made some reservation phone calls, and started on the frosting. After the frosting was done, I looked up on how to pipe roses. The tip I had was way too big for the minis, so I only played around on the bigger ones. It turned out quite nice for a first attempt. A stiffer frosting would've made the rose even more defined.

lovely!

the big one for big uncle!

These cupcakes chilled well. I piped the frosting on the day ahead and kept them in the fridge till the night after. The texture remained moist and fluffy and I personally do not like warm frosting. Great to make for a party ahead of time!

Taste: 4.5 stars out of 5

Need to experiment on a couple more recipes to make frosting less sweet; maybe a swiss meringue or adding whipped cream; paired with the reduced sugar cupcake, sweetness was fine
Texture: 5 stars out of 5
Smooth velvety frosting paired with light and fluffy carrot cake cupcake

Apple Galette with Walnut Streusel

Could these be my absolute best bake? I made them 3 times in 8 days, and each one disappeared within hours! I am not a fan of apple or fruit pies in general, and this has won me over completely. The flavor combination is fantastic- apples, cinnamon, walnuts (& coconut flakes)! This recipe is actually what drawn me to making galette in the first place. #datgoldenbrowncrustdoe

Apple Galette with Walnut Stresuel
Crust   
2nd half from last Berry Galette

Filling
-recipe adapted from Southern Boy Dishes
-makes enough for two galettes

3 apples, peeled, cored, sliced into 1/2" (used Granny Smith)
1/4 sugar
1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Toss together.

Topping
-recipe adapted from Southern Boy Dishes
-makes enough for two galettes

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup AP flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp unsalted butter, RT

1. Mix everything together except butter.
2. Blend in softened butter until well combined.

Clockwise: topping, filling, dough

Pile filling and sprinkle topping on top

Fold dough over filling

final crucial step before bake: brush with cream and sprinkle turbinado sugar!**

having a slice fresh out of oven (;

cross section view in day light

Apple Galette variation #1

Crust
-recipe adapted from Southern Boy Dishes

1 1/4 cup AP flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter, cubed and frozen

4 tbsp water, cold

1. In food processor, pulse together salt and flour until combined.
2. Add in butter and pulse until small beads form.
3. Add in cold water and pulse until dough starts to come together as a ball.
4. Divide into two each ~160g (total wt: 318g).
5. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill one for 30 minutes and freeze the other.

Filling
1 granny smith apple, cored and diced*
sprinkle of cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and sugar (no exact measure)
2 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes

Topping
Leftover from previous

result of brushing with milk

This variation was equally yummy as first one!
- The amt of dough fit perfectly in my mini food processor; the dough was soft and smooth!
- Added coconut flakes which bought in a slight chewiness and tropical flare. 

- Dicing the apples instead of slicing made for easy cutting and clean biting (no dragging the whole slice out and having toppings rolling off). 

- Brushed with milk instead and achieved a lighter golden brown color. Turbinado sugar didn't stick as well to the dough with the milk brush. Prefer cream.

Apple Galette variation #2
[the fatty's special request]

Crust   
2nd half from previous Apple Galette

Fillingsame as previous Apple Galette with extra coconut flakes

Topping
- roughly halved recipe from Southern Boy Dishes
- used salted butter and skip salt

brushed with creamer

extra coconut flakes for the coconut lover!

perfectly baked crust- held up nice

Happy 20 on 20 fatty (:

Taste: 5 stars out of 5
*love addition of coconut flakes, easy adjustment of sugar level according to taste
Texture 5 stars out of 5
*minor difference between different crust recipes, all crisp and flaky, prefer ones that use less than 2 cups of flour
*love extra crunch from walnut streusel
*turbinado sugar is a must for crunch on top of crunch!
Appearance: 5 stars out of 5
*best golden brown-ness with heavy cream 
Ease: 5 stars out of 5
*prep dough the day prior, filling prep time and baking time all together takes less than 1 hour

Berry Galette

My first ever galette, and I am sold. I have already made not two but three more galettes since!

No trimming dough into tart pan. No scraps wasted. No blind baking needed. And best part is more flaky/crispy crust from that golden brown overfold! And you would think the bottom part of the crust would be soggy from all the juiciness but nop! All around crisp and no sog! #obsessed

These galettes are definitely deserving of their each individual posts. The steps are simple so I will quickly share the recipe and just bombard y`all with the photos (:


 Berry Galette
Crust
2 cups AP flour
pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup butter, cubed and frozen
5 tbsp water, cold

1. In food processor, pulse together salt and flour until combined.
2. Add in butter and pulse until small beads form.
3. Add in cold water and pulse until dough starts to come together as a ball.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- varied the ratio of the ingredients a bit from my usual recipe and added sugar; this recipe has 1/2 cup more flour and 1 tbsp more water
- amount was way too much for my mini food processor to handle; had to process in 2 batches and combine at the end
- dough was patchy and dry but wrapped and freeze anyways; rolled and turned out fine!

Filling
2 cups berries (strawberry, blueberry and blackberry)
1 packet honey
a little more than 2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp chia seeds
juice from half a lemon
zest from half a lemon

- free form filling; looked up a couple recipes and just threw together a not too liquid-y and simple filling; added just enough corn starch and juice to create a thick mucus-y coating
- a bit tart; could use a tbsp or 2 more sugar

Now that you got the dough prepped and the filling ready, time to put everything together!
The fun part..

mixed berries filling

+ chilled dough

roll dough out and pile filling in center leaving a 2-3" border

fold dough over edge of filling

Brush with cream and sprinkle turbinado sugar all over!

All set. Now just bake at a preheated oven at 400F for 40 minutes.

fresh out of the oven & added some chopped roasted almonds on top
look at the color of that crust ^^

Couldn't resist this golden beauty

in day light

I urge everyone to make some galettes now! They are absolutely tasty and take very little time. Prep the dough within minutes, pile in pretty much anything you like and sprinkle that crust with some turbinado! These look and taste impressive and that is why I have three more galettes to show you in the upcoming post!

Taste: 4.5 stars out of 5

4 for filling cause it was a bit tart and 5 for the crust

Texture: 5 stars out of 5

the perfect crisp from the crust; held up wonderfully

#galettelove #galettelife