I decided upon making carrot cupcakes for Easter because for some reason, carrots are popular. I have a limited taste understanding of carrot cakes/cupcakes, only having one of both fairly recently. So, you can imagine that I was a bit daunted by this recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook.
My ingredients were easy to measure out. Nothing too crazy. I bought pre-shredded carrots and ended up giving them a bit of a chop in the food processor. Not sure if that's a normal thing, but hey, this was my first try with this and I didn't want huge strings of carrots.
It was a bit odd to mix carrots with other ingredients. I suppose it is similar to working with pumpkin, but I still had a hard time with it. However, I was able to combine all of my cupcake ingredients by hand. Power to manual labor. These also were put into lined muffin pans which allows for easy cleanup.
Twenty-five minutes later, I pulled these good looking cupcakes out of the oven. They smelled delightful! I tried a plain cupcake because the cookbook said they make a good snack when eaten this way. It tasted good, but it seemed more like a muffin without frosting.
That realization was my cue to start on my cream cheese frosting. I had no idea that this popular frosting was so easy to make. Those four ingredients are all you need! I never would've guessed. My sister said that it was my best frosting yet. (WIN!) I'm sure that you notice our Kitchen-Aid mixer had to be used for this step.
And there you have the iced cupcakes. This is definitely a great cupcake to make. Not too sweet and very light and moist. Shouldn't be too much to clean either. I suggest giving it a try.
For perhaps the first day since spring began, it is actually a nice "spring-ish" day. Have you completed your big spring cleaning, Reader? I'm still working on that (slowly), but it's coming along. I think that when the weather is warm, I enjoy eating more than ever. So, I had a nice excuse to bake up some delicious. If you worked with me, you'd be eating some chocolate fudge cake pops right about now.
Since you do not work with me, I wanted to share this with you so you can surprise your own coworkers. I've made cake pops before (wow, they looked so lumpy), but I think my skills have somewhat improved. Due to the recent "cake pop-ularity," companies are starting to create items for them. Wilton made the carriers (which I decked out using Hallmark's adhesive ribbon available in stores) and they also have a stand for decorating cake pops (but make sure you use styrofoam to dry your pops!). Actually, if you search their site, you'll come across a lot of great supplies.
Although it was not as popular as Rugrats, Klasky Csupo's The Wild Thornberrys was a great cartoon that ran for a good six years (and reran until a few years back). It follows the titular Thornberrys as they travel the world filming wild animals. The protagonist of the show, Eliza, is a nerdy yet very brave girl with the ability to speak to animals. Perhaps I liked this because I always wished that I could speak to animals, but it provided some pretty interesting episodes and taught some good lessons.
Like other Nickelodeon cartoons, it wasn't always what you would expect kids to be watching (feral son, parents that let their children climb mountains unattended, lots of conflicts with poachers), but it was a thoughtful and interesting series. The animation was what you expected from Klasky Csupo and the stylized look was one familiar to kids at the time. Give a few episodes a try and you might become a fan. There is even a movie!
Image via sodahead.com
Todd McLellan's works are like real life Dismantlement games except there isn't a bomb to worry about. Instead, your eyes can feast on a creative, motion-filled photograph of a disassembled mundane object from a clock to a typewriter. For more on Todd, check out his site. If you are intrigued by my vague mention of Dismantlement, check out the addictive, short point-and-click flash games.
Apart Wind Up Clock by Todd McLellan; via UPPERCASE
Some long-awaited eye candy for you.
Image via yours truly
It's been a while since I've been to the movies and I was very excited to see Rango—we're talking Johnny Depp and cartoons? Well, my excitement was short-lived, but let's just get right into the skinny, shall we?
Grade: C-
Image via moviedeskback.com
