While I prefer a substantial slice of cake to a cupcake, cupcakes are infinitely more convenient to distribute. I planned on bringing in a snack for my photography class, and a single tray of cupcakes is much easier to deal with than a cake, a knife, multiple plates, forks, etc. So I made cupcakes.
I used this opportunity to try piping frosting since I have never done so before. It's harder than it looks...all of my frosting swirls ended up looking like misshapen lumps. I guess more practice is in order. From what I can tell, however, I think I still prefer frosting with a spatula. That said, I will now feel inadequate until I am able to at least decently pipe frosting, so I will probably be piping for the next few times I make anything frosting-related. On the convenience side, ad least piping is faster than using a spatula, I think.
Regarding the carrots, I recently discovered that there are different methods to shredding/grating them. I've always been a throw-them-in-the-food-processor person, but after conversing with my roommate, I found that there are also grate-them-on-a-cheese-grater people. I never really thought about it, but the two methods create different looks. The food processor creates more cube-like carrot pieces while a grater makes thin shavings. I guess what you choose is up to your preference. I'm lazy, so food processor it is.
In this round of carrot cake, I made my carrot pieces a little bigger. That was actually due to laziness, but I kind of liked the results. In the past, I've always ground up the carrots into tiny little flecks, which were only subtly visible in the finished product. Since the pieces were somewhat larger this time, I could actually see some happy orange pieces in each bite, which was a nice aesthetic.
The recipe I use usually calls for 3/4 cups of oil, but in the quest for slight healthiness, I substituted a half cup of applesauce for a half cup of the oil. If I'm not imagining it, the texture seemed a little drier than usual, so I have to tinker more with the proportions. I imagine I'd either have to substitute out less oil or maybe add more applesauce to increase the moisture levels. I may have just over-baked the cupcakes too. I think underdone baked goods are extremely gross, so I have a tendency to bake my stuff a little too long, for fear of biting into a gooey mess. A little extra time is hardly noticeable in something large like a whole cake, but in tiny little cupcakes, the extra time most likely makes larger differences.
I frosted the cupcakes with orange-cream cheese frosting. Orange-cream cheese frosting is a great topping for carrot cake because, not only is it tasty, but the orange flecks created by the orange zest kind of look like carrot shreds. My cream cheese frosting was extra satisfying because it made use of a sunny, and free, California orange. When I was home for winter break, I raided my lemon tree and orange tree, and I stuffed the fruits in every free crevice of my carry-on backpack for the journey back to school. This was due to my earlier frustration of actually having to buy a lemon.
My photo class liked my cupcakes, which was a nice ego boost. I'm hoping by bribing them with desserts, they'll give me a not-so-harsh critique. But not actually. I like getting really honest criticism; you don't learn anything without real feedback. The same applies in baking. Sometimes I find it frustrating when people say something's good for the sake of being polite. While I appreciate the kind sentiment, I also want to know what can be fixed so that I don't perpetually bake some mediocre product that everyone politely continues to compliment. I don't think this carrot cake falls under that category though. I'm going to be really un-modest right now and say that I actually really like my carrot cake recipe and that I think it's pretty good. Even so, mainly because I don't feel like ending on an egotistical note, I will reiterate that due to its slight dryness, it still needs some work.
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