Cupcake Palooza: Tropical Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Angela from Spinach Tiger asked if I would be interested in participating in Cupcake Palooza. At the time I had never heard of the event, but since it obviously involved cupcakes, I was intrigued. Who doesn't love cupcakes, right? The event invited professional cupcakers, as well as home bakers, to donate ten to twenty dozen cupcakes. Guests could purchase a $15 ticket, which entitled them to ten cupcakes of their choosing. A little more investigation revealed that the event would benefit Books from Birth of Middle Tennessee, an organization that is focused on increasing literacy and school readiness, which is an important and worthwhile cause.

Angela, Grishma from Zaika Zabardast, and I decided to share a table to lighten our individual baking loads. We each wanted to make different flavored cupcakes, but we wanted to stick to a theme. Since it's springtime and Easter is just around the corner, that seemed like an appropriate jumping off point. Angela made Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting. Grishma brought Pina Colada Cupcakes filled with pineapple curd. I shared Tropical Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.

As I mentioned in my "Blue Ribbon" Peppermint Patty Brownie post, I won several ribbons at the Tennessee State Fair last year. One of them was in the "Vegetable Cake" category for my Tropical Carrot Cake with White Cream Cheese Frosting. Prior to Cupcake Palooza I had only ever made this recipe as a layer-cake, never cupcakes. I was a little concerned that the recipe may not translate as well in cupcake form, but fortunately they turned out great! As an additional challenge, I made a small batch of eggless cupcakes to share with Grishma and her husband, as they are lacto-vegetarians. For my first foray into eggless cake baking, I would say they were a smashing success. In fact, I could barely tell a difference between the two.

Tropical Carrot Cupcakes

Original Version
adapted from: King Arthur Flour and inspired by: Annie's Eats
Yield - approximately 70 mini cupcakes, 22-24 standard cupcakes, or one 2 layer 9-inch cake

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
14 ounces (2 cups) sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
8 1/2 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup pineapple tidbits
3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, diced
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Beat oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
3. With mixer on low, gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just incorporated. Stir in carrots, coconut, pineapple, and ginger.
4. Fill liner 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes for mini cupcakes (longer for regular cupcakes), or until they test done using a toothpick.

Eggless Version
adapted from Renu's Kitchen
Yield - approximately 36 mini cupcakes

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/4 ounces (1 cup) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon clove
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely grated carrot
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits
1 1/2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, diced
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Beat oil, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
3. With mixer on low, gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just incorporated. Stir in carrots, coconut, pineapple, and ginger.
4. Fill liner 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes for mini cupcakes (longer for regular cupcakes), or until they test done using a toothpick.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces white chocolate
2 tablespoons heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar

1. Melt white chocolate together with heavy cream in either a double boiler or in the microwave in 15 second increments. Set aside to cool.
2. Beat together cream cheese and butter until thoroughly combined. Beat in melted white chocolate. Add powdered sugar in batches, beating with each addition. If a stiffer frosting is desired, add additional powdered sugar.

Linked to: Ingredient Spotlight, Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party, Midweek Fiesta

Adventures in Coffee Cupping at Roast, Inc.

A couple of weeks ago, David and I had the pleasure of joining a group of Nashville food bloggers for a coffee cupping event at Roast, Inc., a locally owned coffee roaster that hand selects their coffee from up to sixteen different countries. The owners of Roast, Inc., Brad and Lesa Wood, are slightly obsessed with their coffee. They can tell you where it was grown, who grew it, how and where it was processed, and precisely when it was brought into the US.

In addition to offering extraordinary coffee for purchase by the pound, Roast, Inc.'s coffeehouse, located at 4825 Trousdale Drive, prides itself as being Nashville's only single-cup brewer. Prior to this event I was really only aware of two single cup brewing methods: French press and Keurig. Turns out, there are many others, including:

                     

                               Chemex                                                         Clever Coffee Dripper

              

  Aeropress                                                      Siphon pot

Each method yields a cup of coffee with subtle yet distinct characteristics, from the clean and crisp product of the Yama Siphon Pot to the full-bodied, full-flavored product of the Clever Coffee Dripper. My favorite methods were the siphon pot, mainly because I'm kind of a science nerd, and it's super cool, and the Clever because of its simplicity and ease of use.

Roast, Inc. also offers all of the typical espresso based drinks made on a hand-rebuilt Rancilio Millennium Two Group Machine.

I'm sure it was some combination of the exceptional quality of the coffee, Lesa's expertise in roasting and brewing, and the use of milk from Hatcher's Family Dairy, but the cappuccino I had at Roast, Inc. was hands down the best I have ever had.

I almost always add some sort of sweetener when I have a cappuccino or latte, but this was perfect all on its own: wonderfully bold with no hints of bitter or burnt flavors.

Another important note: Roast, Inc. uses only natural sweeteners and flavorings in their specialty coffee drinks, including maple syrup and agave nectar. They even make a Nutella latte with nothing but espresso, steamed milk, and Nutella. It was pretty amazing.

Of course this wouldn't have been a proper food blogger meetup without food. We had quite a spread, including a couple of types of quiche, scones, muffins, doughnuts, and my contribution, sausage and biscuits, with sausage from Peaceful Pastures and biscuits made with buttermilk from Hatcher's Family Dairy (and lard from Peaceful Pastures). I'll be sharing my recipe for biscuits in an upcoming post.

I also had the opportunity to get to know a couple of my fellow Nashville food bloggers a little better, particularly Angela from Spinach Tiger (pictured below) and Lisa from Wine with Lisa. During the event we discovered that we all live in the same area, and that Angela and I actually live in the same neighborhood. It was great to meet you ladies, and I look forward to seeing you again soon!

For anyone in Nashville looking for exceptional coffee by the pound, I highly recommend stopping by Roast, Inc. In addition to coffee by the pound and fresh brewed coffee and espresso, they also carry a full line of single-cup brewing gadgets for your home collection, including Chemex, Clever, Aeropress, and siphon pots. If you're a novice coffee brewer like me, be sure to ask for advice on which methods work best for which coffees. They will be more than happy to help you recreate the perfect cup of coffee at home. Thanks again to Brad, Lesa, and Tim for coming in on their day off to share the passion for great coffee with our group!