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Carrot cake with cream cheese butter cream

April 20, 2020 by Ariel Leave a Comment

My nephew’s first ever birthday cake. <3

Such an honour to have had the chance to make this for this little boy starting his life in quarantine. No worries, he’s good and well surrounded plus, he liked the cake and the frosting so it’s confirmed: he’s also pretty cool.

Cakes aren’t something I dare to make often, for obvious reasons.  Luckily this delicious experience turned out to be perfectly moist and, just as I hoped, with a strong flavour of cinnamon and a touch of sweet nutmeg.  You can manually grate the carrots for this but, my personal favorite will be to use the hand blender.  The icing is not fully solid, nor too drippy either so it’s easy to spread and won’t fall everywhere as it sits in the fridge for a few hours.  Without being too sweet, it’s a definitely noticed added sweetest that balances all the strong and subtle flavours of the cake which I hope you will enjoy.

Another important trick to remember is to FOLD the dry ingredients in to the wet ones.  As we want a crumbly texture in result, the goal is to avoid the flour having time to build too much gluten which would create a more elastic texture once baked.  Gluten development happens when we over mix the batter like when we make bread.  As when we want to make a batch of perfectly crumbly muffins, making cake isn’t much different.

Oh and guess what??  You make this beauty a good day in advance and keep it in the fridge overnight until you’re almost ready to serve.  For top notch results, leave it outside of the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Recipes, Sweets Tagged With: birthday cake, carrot cake, cream cheese, recipe

Honey & raspberries cheese cakes

February 20, 2020 by Ariel 1 Comment

The idea here was to make individual cakes that weren’t too sweet but just enough to balance the tartness of the raspberries.  You can absolutely change the topping for any other berries or fruits you might prefer.  The final texture is a mix between a regular cake, a sponge cake and a cheese cake.

I dare you to try to eat only one.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Recipes, Sweets Tagged With: all purpose flour, cane sugar, cashew milk, cheese cake, cream cheese, easy, eggs, honey, individual cakes, milk, muffin pan, raspberries, two eggs

Crispy Cheesy Polenta Stuffed Poblano Rings

June 21, 2017 by Ariel 1 Comment

SoCal is a great place to find premium Mexican products and I couldn’t helped myself to stock up on delicious poblano peppers.  I used to grow them in my garden (back in the days where I didn’t travel so much because pepper plants are by far my favourite plants to grow) but they never came out as big and spicy as the one you find in California.  Apparently, the more sun engorged the pepper plant is, the spicier it’s pepper will be.  I learned this, the hard way, the first time buying some, when we briefly lived in San Diego.

Clearly, they aren’t even near as spicy at other peppers like the jalapeños or habaneros but they still got a nice mild kick to them.  When ripen to their fullest, they turn to a nice bright red and called Ancho peppers, often ground in to powder.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Recipes, Spicy, Tapas, Vegetables Tagged With: Amuses Bouches, appetizers, cheese, cream cheese, Crispy, easy, finger food, Poblano, polenta, recipe, Sharp Cheddar

Maple & Carrot Semolina Cake

September 13, 2015 by Ariel 1 Comment

MapleAndCarrotCake02

Just tasted this beauty I made yesterday.

Usually, it’s not my style to let some freshly baked goods wait on the counter before being honoured by our palates but, by the time it had come to the right temperature, it was getting way too late for me to indulge in such decadence.  As a first “fall baking” project, I’m very pleased with the results and I’m sure you’ll be pleased to.  The final texture is extremely silky soft and dense, very close to a pound cake but with a nice variation because of the semolina flour.

Cut yourself a slice, toast it the traditional way or put in the oven for a few minutes before devouring it with melted butter or cream cheese spread on top..  It’s worth it.

Bon Appétit!

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Filed Under: Bread, Cakes, Maple Flavored, Recipes, Sweets Tagged With: autumn, baking, baking powder, bread, cake, carrot, carrot rice, coconut oil, cream cheese, easy, eggs, fall, fresh, ginger, maple, n.01 durum flour, recipe, saigon cinnamon, semolina flour, sweet, syrup, vietnamese cinnamon

Mini Pumpkin & Spices Cupcakes

October 29, 2012 by Ariel 2 Comments

Can I really post too many pumpkin recipes? I don’t think so.  After passing over all the homemade pumpkin puree and a couple of cans of pumpkin puree, I still have a bit left in my fridge and a ton of fun ideas of what I could do with it.  Two weeks ago, somebody asked me on twitter if I had a good recipe for some easy and fast pumpkin cupcakes so here it is!  I brought these little bites to a party I went to on Saturday and they were a hit!  Hope you like them to 🙂

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Recipes, Snacks, Sweets Tagged With: cardamon, cinnamon, clove, coconut oil, cream cheese, cupcakes, dairy free, dessert, egg, fall, frosting, ginger, light, mini, pumpkin, recipe, rice milk, snack, sugar, sweet

Stuffed Jalapenos Peppers

August 19, 2012 by Ariel 12 Comments

Planning a dinner party?  Here’s a fun and EASY appetizer your guests who like spicy food will jump on!

** IMPORTANT ** Cutting Jalapenos peppers will BURN YOUR FINGERS!!  The best trick I have found is rubbing alcohol or Hand Sanitizer in a pretty big quantity, then wash your hands with soap… don’t do like me and wait for two full day wondering why is your hands burning that much… it’s awful! lol

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Finger Food, Recipes, Spicy, Tapas, Vegetables Tagged With: apetizer, cream cheese, finger food, garlic powder, goat cheese, Jalapenos, mexican, Parmesan cheese, party, peppers, recipe, spicy, stuffed, tapas, thyme

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