Happy Birthday to me

= carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the other interns at work!

Recipe to follow as soon as I find the time to type it up.

Update:
Here goes! I found the cupcake recipe eons ago on recipezaar and the cream cheese frosting was found on the truly wonderful Joy the Baker blog.

I scaled down both recipe to more "European" portions. Can I pose the question to the Americans; What do you guys do with the additional twelve cupcakes all the time? :-)

These quantities are for twelve deliciously rich cupcakes. They were a big hit at work and gave us all a sugar rush.

Maple Carrot Cupcakes:
120 gr. flour
110 gr. sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (Natron)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
120 ml vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
60 ml maple sirup
3 medium sized carrots grated

Preheat the oven to 175°C.
Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a second bowl mix the eggs, the oil and the maple sirup together. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones until just combined. Then fold in the grated carrots.
Line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill them with the batter until about two thirds full. A very easy way to get equal size portions is to use an ice cream scoop to do this!
If you don't want to frost the cupcakes later on, you can sprinkle them with a cinnamon sugar mixture at this stage.
Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.
Leave to cool before frosting.

For the frosting:
170 gr. butter
110 gr. cream cheese
55 gr. light brown sugar
half a teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
250-500 gr powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Make sure your ingredients are room temperature. Start by beating the cream cheese for about a minute. Add the butter and beat 1 to two minutes until well combined. Add the brown sugar, salt and vanilla extract until well combined.
Turn off your mixer and add 250 gr of powdered sugar to the bowl. Start your mixer on a low speed setting. Beat until well combined and repeat the process of adding a little more sugar until the frosting is of the desired consistency. Add milk to thin it out if necessary.
Pipe or smear it onto your cold cupcakes.

Focaccia

The recipe I want to share with you today is a favorite of mine. Even though the cookbook it has originated from has gone MIA for some time now, it hasn't stopped this tasty bread from being made.

It started out as a tongue in cheek nod to the tradition of bringing a loaf of bread and some salt when someone moves in. I brought this to a friend who was moving apartments and it was very well received by the tired, hungry and desolate person in question.

As the preparation is really simple and well worth the effort, I since brought this to a couple of gatherings with friends. It always got me points!



ingredients:

350 gr flour
1 packet (7 gr) instant yeast
1 teaspoon of salt (I like the bread dough to be salty. If you prefer it more neutral only add half)
210 ml lukewarm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Toppings:
olive oil
sea salt
Whatever suits your taste: Herbs (rosemary, sage, marjoram, oregano, thyme, etc), sliced onions, olives... The possibilities are endless.

1. Mix the dry ingredients before adding the water and oil. Knead until it forms a pliable and coherent dough. Spread a splash of olive oil onto some plastic wrap and use this to gently cover your dough. Put the dough into a warm place and let it rise for an hour. (It should double in volume.)

2. Spread a baking sheet or a 26 cm pie form with olive oil. Get out your dough. Kneed it gently for about 15 seconds, just to knock the air out. Roll it out into your form (2-3 cm thick) and cover it with the oiled wrap. Let it rise for another 20 minutes.

3. Use your finger tips to press dimples into the dough. These will hold small pools of olive oil later on. Cover again with the same plastic wrap and let it rise for the last time for 10 minutes.

4. While the dough it resting for the final time preheat your oven to 180°C. Prepare your topping for the foccacia. I went with; sliced onions, sage and marjoram this time.

5. Get your dough. First pour on olive oil all over it.(I'm guessing about four tablespoons as a minimum.) I use my hand so make sure it covers everything. Sprinkle with sea salt. Add whatever you like. If there are some chunky items (olives, onions) remember to press them into the dough a bit. They tend to fall off during or after baking.

6. Shove into the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes until it has a golden brown color. Let it cool before serving.

Perfect endings...

Last Saturday was supposed to be THE night. All my girls got together for dinner and the idea was to go out afterwards. But as those plans go....
We had something to nibble before some homemade cannelloni were dished up. The recipe was one of Jamie Oliver's that I have also used myself. They were so delicious. Over wine we got to talking and time seemed to fly.
For desert I had made the Pioneer Woman's Lemon Olive Oil& Thyme cakes and they were so nice.

The simple lemon, butter and powder sugar frosting gave the otherwise fluffy cakes the perfect amount of texture. Although I did make about a third less than in the recipe, it was the perfect amount. I probably under baked these beauties a little. But I have no regrets as there is nothing I like less than a too dry cake... These were perfect.

I will certainly make them again, but am thinking of something to substitute the thyme. I personally liked them but some (like my mother) would prefer something less "edgy"...

PS: Of course not one of us set foot into a club that night... In the end we were all just yearning to go home. Are we getting old? :-)