Sweet Pea Cupcakes with Carrot Cream Cheese Frosting

It's hard to believe that today was the first day of Spring....we actually had a below zero windchill going on in my neck of the woods. Luckily, it doesn't have to be dreary in the kitchen. How about some brightly colored cupcakes to lighten things up?

The third Thursday of each month happens to be an Improv reveal day. Improv is a blogger challenge hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. This month the flavors to work with are Peas and Carrots. Very Springlike, no?

I have to admit to being a little preoccupied with things other than cooking or baking this month, so when Kristen offered up the idea to use baby food--jars of pureed peas and carrots--I latched on to the idea. This has to be one of the quickest ideas I've come up with yet for our Improv challenge...and I feel a bit lazy with my ingredients. Honestly, though, once in a while there comes a need to use convenience foods...as long as they are doctored up a little.

Oh my gosh..it's been way too long since I bought these little jars...

Sweet Pea Cupcakes with Carrot-Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 box lemon flavored cake mix
1 jar (1/2 cup) pureed peas (baby food)
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon grated orange or lemon peel

Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons pureed carrots (baby food)
1 tablespoon grated orange or lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.; line a 24 cup muffin tin with liners.

In a large bowl, blend the cake mix, peas, eggs, buttermilk, and orange peel together until smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide the batter among the 24 cupcake liners and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

For the frosting, beat the cream cheese, butter, carrots, vanilla, and orange peel together until smooth. Add enough of the powdered sugar to reach the consistency you like. Frost the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with cute stuff, if desired.

Don't do what I did and dump the entire jar of carrots in the bowl...duh! I ended up with way too much frosting, and it was so thin I ended up dipping the cupcakes in the bowl to frost them!

My thoughts? This was a lemon cupcake...no indication of peas, which is probably a good thing. I like to think that I made a box mix a little healthier by replacing the peas for the oil. The frosting was good, but there wasn't a huge amount of carrot flavor. I don't think 3 tablespoons of pureed carrot negated the fat and calories in the cream cheese, butter, and sugar, however. The consistency of the cupcake was that of a sponge cake and, all in all, I feel it was a success. Of course, I had to test it all out by eating 3 cupcakes in rapid succession.

Please do yourself a favor and check out what everyone else is making with Peas and Carrots!

My Favorite Coffee Cake

People sometimes ask me how I come up with a recipe. For the most part, the answer is pretty simple.....I tinker. I simply take an existing recipe and make it my own. The rule is that you have to make at least 3 major changes (and change the title) to make the recipe yours. The coffee cake recipe that I'm going to present to you today, is not my own. It is, however, an example of a recipe that is very adaptable--it is very easy to swap out ingredients and make an entirely different cake.

First, let's take a look at the basic recipe. Truthfully, I'm not sure who to give credit* to for this one as it's been in the family for years. Even in its original form, it is a very popular cake....cinnamony, moist, sweet, portable....you get the picture. Here is the recipe:

My Favorite Coffee Cake

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon butter flavoring
1 envelope Dream Whip
1 pkg yellow cake mix (no pudding in the mix---use Duncan Hines)
1 (small) package instant vanilla or butterscotch pudding

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon butter flavoring

Grease and flour and oblong angel food cake pan. (or use a regular tube/bundt pan or two regular loaf pans and adjust baking time)

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the cake ingredients. Beat a low speed for 30 seconds to combine, then beat at med/high speed for 6 minutes.

Pour 1/2 the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the topping mixture. Pour in remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining topping. Cut through the batter with a knife to swirl in the topping. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before removing. Drizzle with glaze, if desired.

Here's where I started changing things around with this batch. I blended together 1/4 cup softened butter with 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. You can see in some of the pictures where this mixture might have been a bit heavy---it didn't swirl nicely and settled near the bottom. But it was very tasty and I would make it this way again!

I took a few liberties again with the glaze. Since I'm not a huge fan of raw powdered sugar, I made a very easy penuche glaze.

You can see just how easy and versatile this recipe is---swap out chocolate cake for the yellow, chocolate pudding mix for the vanilla, and use some Oreo crumbs and mini chocolate chips for the middle. Or use the Butterscotch pudding and swirl in some chocolate syrup. Let your taste buds be your guide.....

*My sister just informed me of the origins of this wonderful treat. Apparently, it is known as "That" Coffee Cake or "Shiva" Cake and is a very popular recipe belonging to Temple Israel in Minneapolis. They even take orders for this stuff....see, and now you can make it at home. :)  She also wanted to pass along that this cake, made in its original form, tastes great toasted and smeared with butter.

Peach Schnapps Cake

There comes a time when you just need to make an easy, tasty dessert without caring about the transfats or the hydrogenated oils (aren’t they the same thing?). So why am I reluctant to post my little indiscretion? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because I used so few ingredients and they were all packaged goods. Maybe it’s because my husband was diagnosed with skyrocketing triglycerides (I brought this to work before he could have any). Maybe it’s because I’ve packed on more than a few pounds in the last couple of years and I almost ate this up myself. At any rate, I made it because an old recipe (I don’t even remember where I got it) was staring me in the face, it sounded good, and I had all the ingredients. So there. And yes, I even made the topping with a package of Dream Whip. Sue me.

Even my orange juice had peach in it. This was meant to be.

Peach Schnapps Cake

Ingredients:

Printable Recipe

Cake:
1 box French vanilla cake mix (I just used yellow cake mix--on sale for a buck!)
3 eggs
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup peach schnapps
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:
1/2 cup peach preserves
2 tablespoons peach schnapps

Optional topping:
1 cup Cool Whip (I used Dream Whip--remember those little packets of goodness?)
2 teaspoons peach schnapps

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10" Bundt pan.

For the cake, combine cake mix, eggs, orange juice, peach schnapps and oil in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed for 4 minutes. Pour into pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until tested done. Cool 10 minutes. Invert onto serving plate.

For the glaze, combine peach preserves and peach schnapps in small bowl. Brush glaze on warm cake.

For optional topping, combine the Cool Whip with the peach schnapps. Spoon onto cake slices when served.