Hummingbirds

My brain has been been consumed lately with thoughts of Minnesota. Until last weekend, I hadn't been home in almost five months. While I have made a great life in Chicago with my wonderful boyfriend and friends, a great job, and a cozy apartment, I still consider 'home' to be the blue house with the ridiculously steep driveway in Prior Lake, Minnesota. I wonder at what stage in life does your home become where you have settled and not where you grew up? Does it ever make the change? I am nearing my third decade in this life, one of which has been spent living in an entirely different state from all of my family and most of my friends, and my brain hasn't flipped that switch yet. After ten years of living away from many of the people most important to me, I find myself more homesick than ever.

Last weekend I jumped on the opportunity to make the drive to MN for the day, and for good reason. My Grandma turned 88 this month, and if that isn't a reason to eat cake (and eat six different kinds of pasta salad) I don't know what is. I knew it would mean a lot to Grandma B to have all her grandchildren (and many of her great-grandchildren) there for the surprise, and it would good for my heart to have a chance to spend a few hours with my family. It was a short visit, but grandma was successfully surprised, and getting to hug and catch up with my parents and sister was worth the eight hour round trip.

When my mom asked me to make a cake for the party, I was mulling over what kind of cake to make, knowing that I should use this to practice my fondant work a bit. All she had to say was 'grandma likes birds' and I knew instantly how I was going to design the cake. My grandparents on my mother's side ran and lived on a dairy farm until I was in middle school. There were cows and cats and dogs, and lots of birds. As long as I can remember, there has always been a multitude of bird feeders hanging outside my Grandmas windows. She could tell you the name of any bird that happened to stop by to graze, but I have a suspicion that hummingbirds were her favorite. I don't think I will ever forget the time one of my cousins drank the hummingbird juice in the refrigerator thinking it was kool-aid. It may very well be one of my earliest memories as a child.

It was such a good refresher driving through the bluffs of southern Minnesota, spending some time with my family, and celebrating with Grandma. She is a pretty kick-ass grandma, I can only hope to be like her when I turn 88.

This is my favorite chocolate cake recipe, which I have posted on here many times before. I wanted to do something simple with the cupcakes, but give them a little 'oomph' so I went with a italian meringue buttercream but added an entire vanilla bean. It's a simple way to give a ton of flavor and pretty little speckles to your frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

4 oz egg whites

8 oz granulated sugar

2 oz water

12 oz unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed

1 vanilla bean

Place your egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. 

Heat the sugar and water in a small sauce pan over high heat. Using a candy thermometer, bring the sugar to a boil and continue cooking until it reaches 230 degrees F. When it hits that temperature, turn your stand mixer to medium to begin mixing the egg whites until they are foamy. When the temperature hits 240 F, remove from heat and slowly pour into the egg whites on a medium low speed. As soon as all of the sugar is in, turn the mixer to medium high and mix until the meringue is cool to touch.

Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. Whip at medium-high speed until thick. Split the vanilla bean in half, and scrape out the seeds using the back of your knife. Add to the buttercream, and mix until evenly dispersed. 

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

My wonderful, smart, talented, beautiful older sister turned 30 today. She is an amazing woman, strong and opinionated, sensitive and compassionate. She can kick my butt running (well doing anything athletic, really) and trivial pursuit, but is still nice enough to share a bottle of wine or a delicious meal with me. I was lucky enough to be able to celebrate her birthday with her, for the first time in years, here in Chicago and I wanted to send her home with one of her favorite treats: carrot cake.

I cannot think of carrot cake without thinking of my sister and our former backyard neighbors the Sonnabends. They have three kids, and the older two and my sister were inseparable growing up. Carrot cake instantly brings to mind a snapshot of Rian and Sara in matching bikinis with their little pot bellies sticking out, hamming it up for the camera, waiting to take on the suped-up slip and slide my dad concocted. Whenever it was time for a Sonnabend birthday, you could pretty much guarantee that a carrot cake would be blazing with candles. For some reason I always despised carrot cake, and thought it was weird that a kid would want a cake made out of vegetables for their birthday, when they could have their choice of anything. Chocolate, vanilla, fun-fetti, angel food, come on, with all the options, carrot cake? Really??

I have since come around and  now really enjoy carrot cake, I even snagged a cupcake or two for myself last weekend. Paired with a rich and not too sweet cream cheese frosting, these spiced carrot cake cupcakes made the birthday girl very happy.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes & Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes two dozen cupcakes

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups grated carrots, I used a micro plane to grate the very finely, but you can use the small side of a box grater

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and line two cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, and whisk together. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking to incorporated between each addition. Fold in the carrots, the add the dry ingredients to the wet, and using a wooden spoon, gently mix just until combined, and all dry ingredients are wet.

Spoon into lined muffin tins, until each cup is about 3/4 the way full. Bake for 16-20 minutes on the middle rack, until a toothpick entered into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let cool in pans for a few minutes, then remove from tins and let cool completely on a baking rack before frosting.

To make the frosting:

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

pinch of salt

In a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter, and beat on medium high speed until smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and mix until incorporated. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Pipe or spread onto cupcakes as desired. 

Here's to many wonderful birthdays to come, hopefully all of them with cake included.