Carrot Cake cupcakes - the works!

It's funny how things creep.....I've been dong a lot of baking the last 6-8 months, and at some point wanted to share what I'd been doing. I'm not a big recipe person, but I like taking photos of the completed projects and sharing them on Facebook - then a month or so go, I got into Pinterest , and love being able to ''pin'' the things I've had fun creating or the things I'm filing away to try next time the cooking/baking bug bites

But, with Pinterest...it really helps to have a recipe behind the pin. With things I find, no problem...the things I make/create and hodgepodge from various sources and through trial and error...not so much. Hence, a blog is born. Here is how I make things I make.I'm not a pro, I don't have endless time to devote to my hobbies, and I don't remember to take pictures at each step. But, for better or worse, I will lift the curtain, show off my cheats and share with you my 15 years of trying to make American style goodies while living abroad.

For Thanksgiving last year, I wanted to dust off an old favourite - Carrot Cake (worteltaart).

I always feel a bit guilty to admit this - but I use a mix of well, pre-made mixes and my own touches.

Homemade completely from scratch is always best when you have all the time to do so (and in the long run is usually cheaper per serving) but sometimes I have to find the middle ground between what I want to do and what I actually have time to do in the mere 24 hours we're allotted per day....

Here then, is the recipe as I made it in the photo below - and I'll list the ''from scratch'' option if you prefer that way.

The cake

For this recipe, I started with Betty Crocker Carrot Cake mix. In the Netherlands, I find the best selection of cake mixes on www.usfoodz.com. If you have to go outside of NL, I also order from the UK http://www.usafoodstore.co.uk. Both option are still cheaper than ordering from the US (unless my mom is sending a ''care'' package).

Besides the pre-done cake mix, you'll need the following to make approx 24 cupcakes:

• 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® carrot cake mix
• 1/2 cup (approx 120 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 cup of water (approx 335 ml)
• 3 eggs (M or L)
• a generous dash (1/4 teaspoon) of cinnamon (kaneel) - optional

Now, I'll leave the debate of box mix vs scratch off the table for now - BUT, whether you use a box mix or your own, what takes this cake from good to YUM is the add ins.....

I recommend combinations and variations of the following:

• 1/2 cup (75 grams) chopped nuts - I like pecans, but walnuts are less expensive and work equally well
• 1/2 cup (75 grams) dried cranberries (or raisins). I highly recommend the cranberry and pecan combo
• 1/2 cup (75 grams) white chocolate chips (bakvaste) that will not melt in the oven - I buy mine here

For the box mix, the baking instructions are:

• Heat oven to 350°F / 175°C
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, oil, water and eggs on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
• Stir in the added ingredients , one at a time, and mix gently (silicone spatula or the like works well).
• Pour into baking cups in cupcake pan, filling each about 2/3 full. I find the metal ice cream scoops the supermarket sells works quite well as a single scoop. Do not overfill, and tap on a flat surface to eliminate the largest air pockets before putting in the middle to lower half of the oven.
• Bake 17-22 minutes, turn the tray once during baking. Remove to wire rack within 1-2 minutes, then cool completely before frosting. If you leave the cupcakes in the pan too long to cool, you run the risk of the cupcake liners pulling away from the cupcakes - I think it's due to the steam having no place to go. Even with the add in's this is a pretty moist cake - which is one of the things I love about it!

If you want to make the mix from scratch, the ''add ins'' stay the same, but you can find an excellent recipe (in dutch) from the Albert Hein website:

Ok, now for the frosting:

I admit, I usually have a can of frosting (from Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines) knocking around in my pantry, but for cream cheese frosting, I usually do make my own. For these cupcakes, I used the box mix and homemade frosting - go figure!'

The main ingredients are cream cheese (roomkaas) - I like to use Philadelphia (which is available pretty much everywhere now) , powdered sugar and butter: to scale this recipe for more or less cupcakes, I use the rule of halves - however much Philadelphia you use, you use approx 1/2 that amount of butter and half again the amount of powdered sugar.

• 450 grams Philadelphia (2,5 packages as they are sold here)
• 225 grams (unsalted)butter at room temperature
• 125 grams powder sugar
• 1,5 teaspoon vanilla extract (essence)

Mix the butter, Philadelphia and vanilla together on medium speed until you have a creamy consistency. Then, add in the powdered sugar bit by bit until everything is mixed completely.

You can spread the frosting on with a knife or use a piping bag ( I used a star shape tip to get the swirls)

If you want to buy your frosting, you can get it at the same places as the cake mix above but store bought frosting is sweet (and, yes, I say that as an American!)

Finishing touches:

I did use pre-made vanilla frosting for the decorations because I needed to color and pipe it - as it was decoration I wasn't too concerned about the taste as I'd made my cream cheese frosting. You could make extra cream cheese frosting, or use a standard buttercream recipe for the piping decorations.

Using Wilton Icing Gel, I colored one batch orange and one green for my carrots and and tops. Using two small round tips, I made a triangle shaped zig zag with orange, then added a line with three angled lines coming away from the baseline as the green top. I had enough dried cranberries left over that I placed one on top of each cupcake as additional decoration.

Start to finish - about 3 hours. The cupcakes must be completely cool or the frosting will slide right off!