Carrot cupcake with cream cheese

My daughter has been after me with a cupcake book in her hands for the past week saying " que bonito este queque rosado" - translation " what a beautiful pink cupcake"....

So I indulged her, but since I wanted that there was something "healthy" in the cupcake, I decided to made carrot cupcake and colored pink the cream cheese glacage.

It was a good opportunity to use my new silver cupcake holder that I bought back in Peru and unfortunately, they are not good. The outside of the holder was grease and the cupcake stick a bit in the holder. Good to know!
I took the recipe from the book "Cupcakes" from Les Petits Plats (Marabout) and I found it too sweet.

The recipe:
190 gr flour
275 gr sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate de soude
3/4 tsp cinamon
175 ml sunflower oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 vanille extract
120 gr  finely shredded carrots

Cream Chees Glacage
200 gr cream cheese
120 gr unsalted butter
225 gr confectioner's sugar
lemons zest

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Alicia did an excellent job ... mami very proud of her.  She filled in the 12 cupcakes very patiently

Sift together the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon . In a large stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, oil and eggs until well combined. Add the carrots and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest until smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cupcakes

And of course, time to enjoy!!!!

Bittersweet Brownies

Last week, I tried a piece of brownie that was insanely sinful... close to orgasmic. The person that said the chocolate was like sex, was very much close...
So in my search for having again this insanely sinful taste in my mouth, I took another baking book by Dorie Greenspan, "Baking from my home to yours" and hope it would turn out the same....
I followed the recipe to the coma, and was extra careful with the baking time and, no, these are not the ones. I had a very earthy experience

Still chocolatey, still good, still gooie but not like my last week experience! I'll keep looking!

The recipe
sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (we used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chips)
1 1/2 cups/150 grams sugar (we cut it back to 125 grams)
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup/140 grams all-purpose flour
3/4 cup pecans, chopped (my choice, optional)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet. (we used parchment paper, which doesn't need buttering)

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chopped chocolate and stir occasionally until the ingredients are just melted - you don't want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

With a whisk, stir in the sugar. The mixture might get grainy, but it will even out. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then add the vanilla and whisk enthusiastically to smooth the batter. Finally, gently whisk in the espresso powder, if you're using it, salt and flour, stirring only until incorporated. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake the brownies until the top is dull and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Books says between 20 to 22 minutes, my oven 15 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the brownies to room temperature. When they are completely cool, turn out onto a rack, peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Cut into rectangles, or like me in little hearts!

Brownie de mi corazon!!!