This is THE carrot cake. The secret, award-winning carrot cake recipe that I have used in my home-based dessert catering business for years.

It’s the best carrot cake in the world.

The best thing about developing the best carrot cake recipe in the world, is that when you start getting overwhelmed with orders – you have two choices:

a) Open up a bakery (um….no – I like being home with my kiddos and I don’t really think the military would move my bakery from duty station to duty station….)

or b) Start teaching classes on HOW to make that carrot cake.

I chose option ‘b’, of course.

Option ‘b’ works well enough and is really, really FUN!! But what happens when you are stretched so thin by teaching classes and you realize that once the military moves you, your student’s will need a place to find more recipes, more classes, and more talk about food?

That’s when you start a blog.

Friends, thank you so much for following The Flying Kitchen. We have been up and running now for 2 months exactly and we have received hits from all fifty states and over twenty countries. I’m spending more time with my family than ever – and the most wondrous thing about all of this is that my family eats everything that I post on this blog. So…I’m able to do what I love to do – which is teach, write and develop recipes WHILE I’m taking care of my family, which is what I love to do most of all!

Sometimes I think that my kids get tired of me ‘fiddling around’ in the kitchen, and yes, there have been times when I have pushed the envelope once or twice, and my toddler (in protest) had to smash a few eggs to get my attention. I’ve got to hand it to her – that was not only effective, but it did stick with the whole ‘cooking’ theme – which is worthy of applause in of itself.

But then there are times when one of my kids does something so extraordinary that all I can do is stand there and blink my eyes in disbelief. Like yesterday, when my ten-year-old announced that she would like to make a “Lemon Layer Cake”. She found the recipe in a library book and proceeded to make a vanilla sponge cake – from scratch – completely on her own. She THEN pulled out my double-boiler and made lemon curd. LEMON CURD. From lemons, and egg yolks, sugar and butter. Again, totally on her own. And then a glaze to pour over the top of her layer cake. She even knew which cake pedestal she wanted to use. It was glorious. All of it.

And those are the kids of moments that make me just sit in a quiet kind of wonder and think. I ponder that this little person has never had a formal ‘lesson’ from me. She has never read my writing. She expressly picked a recipe that was not mine. And she flew.

If I can offer any advice to any mommy, it is to always follow your passion. Always. And while there may be days where you seem to get little sleep, being mommy-by-day, and graphic designer/writer/student or artist by night – those tired days will not last forever, further; they will fill your home with an energy and enthusiasm that is absolutely priceless!! Find what it is that makes your eyes pop with excitement and run – just run with it!

Or FLY!

Fly until you have reached your pinnacle, then sit on that precipice and rest, and watch the ripple effect of what you have done as it continues to radiate through every fiber of your life. And smile.

Find your passion, friends.

_____________________________

Rabbit’s Envy Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare two 8 or 9 inch round pans.

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups grated carrots

1 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained well

1 cup pecans

1)Open can of pineapple and drain in strainer over a seperate bowl or the sink. You will want the pineapple to sit in this strainer for about 20 minutes so very little juice remains.

2) Chop the pecans very finely. Almost to a powder. Place on cookie sheet and toast in a 400 degree oven for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally – until lightly toasted and fragrant. This is a very, very important step.

3) Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

4) cream butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla and eggs together. Whip until light and fluffy. Add cinnamon and nutmeg.

5) Gently add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture – taking care not to over-beat (over-beating makes a from-scratch cake dry).

6) When the flour mixture and the butter/sugar mixture and well combined, add the grated carrots, pineapple and toasted pecans. Combine gently.

Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until inside of cake is no longer gooey.

Cream Cheese Icing:

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 packages cream cheese

1 2lb bag of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Add powdered sugar gradually and whip until the whole mixture is fluffy.

When the cake is cool, layer this icing in between your two cakes then frost the entire cake.

If you would like to decorate your cake with little ‘carrots’, reserve 1/2 cup of your icing and color it with orange and green food coloring.

This is what I’ll be making for our Easter dinner on Sunday! I’m really looking forward to it!

Sometimes, saying something out loud is all you need to do to start believing in yourself. So, if you would please say out loud, “My passion is _____”. Even if you are not sure if THAT is in fact, your passion. It could be one of many – that’s okay. If you would like to take an extra step toward walking the path of your passion, leave a comment telling us what your passion is! I know that putting it out there for all to see IS a bold move, but sometimes making a bold move, while scary, is just what the doctor ordered! So, what’s your passion?!?

Walk in JOY.

Bon appetit, and bonne chance in YOUR Adventures In Cookery,

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes with Satiny Chocolate Buttercream. Delightful!

 We humans love a good food experience.  In fact, most of our shared pastimes are accompanied by an indelible presence of a certain and specific food.  Baseball games and hot dogs.  Carnivals and cotton candy.  Hot summer days and popsicles.  And of course, movies and popcorn.

This afternoon my husband and I took our three oldest children to the movies for the first time in four years!  We decided that a good 3-D experience (and a lovely movie about a kind-hearted boy and dragons) was enough to justify the splurge.  Of course, being that it was a very special affair, I wanted to go all-out and buy them each a bag of popcorn.  For $5.95 a piece.

I’ll say that again:  Popcorn.  Small bags of popcorn. For $5.95.  A piece. 

It occurred to me, as I pulled the twenty dollar bill out of my wallet that if I(along with millions upon millions of people) am/are  willing to pay THIS much for POPCORN…and “butter” – then there was much more about this popcorn than meets the eye.

Clearly, I knew that this popcorn was worth less than twenty cents per bag (I do calculations like that for fun) – but I still pulled out the money and handed it over.  Indeed, this popcorn was ’special’.  Why?  Because this popcorn was part of a memory-making experience for my children.  I know that they will always remember getting to go on a special date – “Just the big kids and mama and daddy” – and that they will always remember being handed a bag of popcorn that they would not have to share.

Cha-ching.

I can’t say that this didn’t leave me cringing and wincing in discomfort – and I must say that I guarded my little children (and my precious popcorn investments) like some kind of human force-field - watching for sporadic movements from the other children in our path.  One false move of an overexcited kid and $5.95 cents of popcorn would go spilling across the floor – and I (not wanting this experience to be tainted by some popcorn spilling injustice) would have no choice but to buy another.  After a heart-stopping close call with a little girl who had broken into a dead sprint and just missed my four-year-old by inches….we made it, popcorn intact.  And we all had a wonderful and memorable time.

_____________________

Food is a powerful thing.  Further, the food/event connection is a much more impressive phenomenon.  This is why people are willing to pay a 3000% mark-up for popcorn at the movie theatre.  This is also why learning how to cook is so important. 

One of the greatest things about being a cook, is that by the mere conjuring of a recipe, we can make any day into an extraordinary day.   Event-less days can be marked by a lovely bruschetta or an unforgettable soup.  A quiet evening can be transformed into an impromptu cookie party.

Even better, after a quiet moment on a Saturday morning where the day is sitting before you like an open and free landscape, you can think – what would I like to eat today?  And then – you can make it so.

As was the case this morning – as I sat drinking coffee and suddenly wanted to eat a chocolate cupcake.  Albeit, I didn’t get to eat that chocolate cupcake until this evening – but it was well worth the wait.  It was not some store bought dry and smackey cupcake that would leave me disappointed (and craving more).  It was exactly the cupcake that I wanted.  Because I can cook, I was able to create (in part) the kind of day that I wanted to have.

Sour Cream Cupcakes For An Extraordinary Day

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 1/4 sticks) – room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Add the sour cream and flour mixture - bit by bit - to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and stir gently.

1 1/4 sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare cupcake tins by lining the cups with cupcake papers.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir to mix.  Mix well.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the room-temperature butter, the sugars and the eggs.  Whip until light and fluffy. 

Add the sour cream and the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture alternately.  Meaning: add some flour mixture and stir, then add some sour cream and stir, and so on.  From this point on stir very, very gently.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake papers.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the centers of the cupcakes are no longer jiggley and liquid.

Cool on wire rack and frost.

Satiney Chocolate Buttercream

1 stick, plus 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter – at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients and whip until smooth and satiney.

Frost cupcakes!

These are tender, creamy and  absolutely delectable!  Well worth the effort and the time.  I encourage you to try these lovely cupcakes the next time you find yourself AND your day free and uninhibited.  And that, in essence, IS an extraordinary day!

When you can cook, you can play in integral part in making ordinary days special, hallmark occasions complete, and almost any occasion memorable.  And in the end – isn’t that what matters?

In four years from now, when we go to the movies again….I will buy more popcorn.  But by then the babies will be old enough to come with us…..so I’d better start saving now. 

But it’ll be worth it, to me.

Bon appetit and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,

Roasted Garlic Potato Chowder With Chili Pepper Croutons

As promised, here is the first Mother Hubbard Challenge Recipe.

Whenever you think you have nothing to eat; BUT you have potatoes..?  You’ll need to re-examine your situation.  Potatoes are one of the most versatile foods known to man.  And a simple, hearty potato soup is one of the most efficient ways to use up a spud or two (or a dozen – as is the case here).

Potato soup is a perfect soup for a beginner to make because it requires very few ingredients.  The natural starches in the potatoes thicken the soup, and all that is required is some cream or sour cream, salt, pepper, and maybe some onion, garlic, (or maybe even some cheddar cheese – or BACON) to give it a little punch.

Garlic is also a king of versatility.  Roasting garlic is extremely easy, fast, and a great way to add a depth of flavor to any dish, whether it be pasta, pizza, a rustic bread or a soup.

We’ll talk about these fabulous croutons in a bit.  First however, let’s talk about how to roast garlic. 

For every bulb of garlic, you will need about 1 1/2 Tbs of olive oil, some foil, and a baking dish of some kind.

1) Take a garlic bulb and slice the pointy ends off with a knife.  Leave the cloves connected to the root.  The root is the bumpy fuzzy bit and will hold the whole thing together.

Drizzle, drizzle!!

2) Place the garlic bulb on a sheet of foil and drizzle about 1 1/2 Tbs over the whole bulb.  Wrap up the bulb loosely, place on a baking dish and bake at 400 degrees F, for 10-15 minutes.  Your roasted garlic should be squishy when it’s done.

Roasting garlic causes a chemical reaction called ‘caramelising’.  Caramelising is a process in which the sugars of the food are burnt ever so slightly.  Oil is necessary for caramelising to occur properly, and serve as a buffer – decreasing the chances of actual burning (flames, carnage….ruin) from taking place.

A little packet of roasted garlic goodness.

Let your garlic cool, then squeeze the roasted garlic flesh out of the papery wrappers (the garlic skin).  Set aside.

Roasted Garlic Potato Chowder With Chili Pepper Croutons

This recipe makes a large quantity of soup.  About 12 cups – or 8 servings. 

8 cups chicken broth

12 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 bulbs roasted garlic

2 tsp salt

a few grinds of pepper (about 1/2 tsp, or to taste)

1 cup sour cream

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a large soup pot, combine the broth and potatoes.  Simmer on medium-high heat for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are ‘fork tender’ (which means that you can pierce them easily with a fork).

Now, add the roasted garlic.

The 'fork tender' potatoes and roasted garlic in my blender. A little is reserved in the pot and will be mashed up. The pureed potato mixture will be added back to the pot. The combination of mashy potatoes and pureed potatoes will make a nice - textured soup.

What you want to do now, is either:

a) Mash up your whole concoction with a potato masher or immersion blender.

or

b) Take about 3/4 of your soup and puree it in a food processor or blender, mash up the 1/4 of soup you have left in the pot, then return your pureed soup to the mashed soup.  See picture.

Please be careful, because hot potato soup is HOT.

Your soup should now be looking pretty good. 

Next, add the salt, pepper, sour cream and bay leaves.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

Now, take the soup off of the heat and add the 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil.  You want to add the olive oil at the very end so it will retain it’s fruitiness and full flavor.

Serve with Chili Pepper Croutons!

Chili Pepper Croutons

I’m going to tell you something that may seem a bit shocking:  Store-bought croutons are a SCAM!  A SCAM, I tell you!  Croutons are nothing more than stale bread crumbs with some olive oil and salt and spices – that are then baked at a high heat.

Sooooo…..  If you ever find that you have too much bread on your hands, or scraps of bread – throw it in the freezer in a special ‘bread scrap bag’ and save it for when you need croutons!

Bonus – Croutons are also very yummy, crunchy snacks – and kids love them!

Toss the bread cubes, olive oil, salt and spices well - to ensure even distribution of all yummy things.

So here is how you make them:

For this recipe, I used 1/2 and Italian loaf (incidentally, the same loaf that I used when I made THESE…I just threw my extras in the freezer…and voila!!).

1/2 Italian loaf, cubed (about 4 cups)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

Bake at 400 degrees, until crunchy!

In a medium mixing bowl, pour the olive oil over the bread cubes.  Toss in chili powder and salt, and incorporate oil, spices and salt all around the bread cubes.

Place your mixture on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees F, for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown and fragrant.

And that’s all there is to it!

So, next time you feel you have nothing to eat, look around your kitchen.  Do you have potatoes?  Sour cream?  Chicken broth (or bullion cubes!)?  Stale bread?  Olive oil?  Spices and salt?  Then you DO have the makings of a gourmet feast!

Bon appetit and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,

Simple and delightful!

First of all, I must say a huge THANK YOU to all who commented on this week’s giveaway.  I loved reading and responding to all of your cookie memories!  It was truly an honor to share your special ‘rememberings’ with you.

This week I’ve been working on several recipes to post, but I hit a writer’s block and I didn’t know where to begin.  So this afternoon I went for a little walk to clear my head.

When I returned I found this beautiful plate of cookies!  My oldest daughter (under the watchful eye of our babysitter) made these amazing little gems!

Wow!  I know!  They are so beautiful and my heart smiles.

Writer’s block OVER.

My Daughter’s Jam Cookies:

3 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

3 Tablespoons of milk

Jam(s) of your choice.

Directions:

Preheat oven 400 degrees, F.  

Grease cookie sheet.

Mix flour and baking powder together.  Melt butter in microwave and pour into flour mix.  Add sugar and stir well.  Add eggs and milk and stir until mixed but still lumpy.

Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out.  Cut the dough in half, then cut those balls in half, and so on until you have 24 even sized pieces.

Shape each piece into a little ball.  Use your hand or a large spoon to flaten each ball.  Then using a small spoon, press a little well into the center of each ball.

Using the same small spoon, fill each well with a jam or jelly of your choice.  The more variety, the better!

Bake for about 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, and enjoy.  My daughter recommends either apple or cranberry juice as an accompaniment.

And this, my friends, is the start of a grand tradition in my home.  I hope that one day my daughter’s children and her grandchildren will remember these cookies and share these memories with others, just as you have shared your memories with me.

Walk in JOY, friends.

Bon appetit and bonne chance in Your Adventures In Cookery,

Be a chic chick this Easter with this sensational 100% cotton apron!

**UPDATE**

Congratulations CATHY!  And thanks so much of sharing your favorite cookie with us – the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cookie!

Thanks so much for playing everyone.  I enjoyed reading and responding to all your cookie comments.  Thanks so much for sharing  your cookie memories with us!

Walk in JOY, friends!

We’re back to business here at The Flying Kitchen, and our latest giveaway prize is this adorable 100% cotton, high quality apron made by Sassy Cook’n (valued at $38.00) – from Cookware.com.

I love how this apron is so cute and vintage-ey!  Check out the adorable lilac baubles on the bottom!!  You will have to wear some red lipstick with this one….definitely! 

To enter to win, leave a comment describing your favorite homemade cookie of all time!

Contest ends Monday, March 22nd at 9:00pm Eastern time.

Happy Commenting!

Fresh whipped cream is so amazingly good, and so simple to make - you'll wonder why it took you this long to try it out.

Have you made your own fresh whipped cream yet?  You won’t regret it!  Fresh whipped cream is so amazingly good, and so simple to make – you’ll wonder why it took you this long to give it a try!

"Heavy Whipping Cream" is what you will need.

When shopping for your ingredients, remember to buy “heavy whipping cream”.  Heavy whipping cream is much different than creamer and light cream.

Ingredients:

If you have a stand mixer, you will want to use the "balloon whisk" attachment. If you have a standard hand mixer, regular beaters will work just fine.

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup sugar

(optional) 1tsp vanilla

Using a mixer with the balloon whisk attachment, or hand mixer with regular beaters – beat the cream on ‘hi’ , adding the sugar gradually as you go.

Your cream will whip up very quickly – so don’t leave the room, or you may end up with butter!

Fresh whipped cream must be made immediately before serving.  It goes flat very quickly, and gets a little gooey if kept in the fridge.

Add your sugar gradually as your beaters are moving.

And that’s all there is to it!  I promise, once you try fresh whipped cream, you’ll never go back to the frozen stuff!

Bon appetit, and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,

Topped with fresh whipped cream and sitting in a shallow pool of Bailey's Irish Cream...this dessert is delightful, simple and sophisticated.

 Bread pudding is one of those desserts that has been under-rated for way too long.  But, like so many dishes that ‘use up’ leftover ingredients, it has been relegated as “peasant food”.

One thing I have found in my travels and in my studies, is that “peasant food” is THE BEST food.  Other examples of peasant food that have been transformed into world-class fare (often by sheer demand of the public) are: pizza, paella, stews, breads of all kinds, fried rice, and crepes.  Bread pudding is in good company, indeed.

Many cultures have their own version of bread pudding.  This is my ‘Americanized’ version of a traditional Irish bread pudding.  We Americans LOVE St. Patty’s day, and love making everything “Irish”.  When contemplating which kind of St. Patrick’s Day dessert to create for The Flying Kitchen, I found myself toying with the idea of making a green dessert.  You know….to make it “Irish”.  I went around and around the idea, my stomach turning all the while.  Quite simply, I just couldn’t bring myself to make a green dessert.  I couldn’t understand why I have such a adverse response to the mere thought of a GREEN dessert….until I remembered that when I was four or five years old, I drank a Shamrock Shake and promptly ‘un-drank’ it.  Ah yes.  Food memories (both good and bad), die hard.

Anyhoo – I decided that I could make this classic Irish dessert even MORE Irish by adding Bailey’s Irish Cream.  And guess what?  It’s really, really good…(and really, really IRISH).

Simple, delectable, absolutely spectacular in it’s creamy-ness (and with a punch), this bread pudding will delight you and your (adult) guests. 

Note: As you can see, I used individual pudding cups to make little single serving portions.  You can use any kind of dish that you like, large or small – provided that it is oven safe.  Most commonly, a single shallow baking dish is used.

A store-bought Italian loaf is a good choice of bread when making a bread pudding.

Ingredients:

6 cups stale or toasted bread crumbs

6 eggs

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup whole milk

1 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

Pouring the liquid mixture over the toasted bread crumbs is the most complex step in making a bread pudding.

Directions:

If you don’t have any stale bread crumbs on hand, just slice up a bunch of bread, throw it on a cookie sheet and bake it at 400 degrees, F until toasty.  If you have a house-full of Leprechauns like me, you probably don’t have any leftover ’stale’ bread either.   After bread crumbs are toasted, pour them into a large mixing bowl.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, F.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, milk and Irish cream.  Stir well, until thoroughly combined.

Pour the liquid mixture over the bread crumbs, and mix gently.

One tablespoon melted unsalted butter in the bottom of each cup, or pour all of the butter into your pan if you are making a single large bread pudding.

Prepare your individual dishes/pans by pouring a tablespoon of butter in the bottom of each one, or by pouring the whole (1/2 cup of butter) in a large pan, if using one.

Place your baking cups or pan in a “water bath”.  A “water bath” is a shallow pan of water that is used as a ‘heat cushion’ for many egg-based desserts.  You can use a cookie sheet, or a baking dish as I have done.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.  If making a large bread pudding, cooking time

Custard dishes resting in a 'water bath'. Water baths help the egg-based desserts to cook gently and evenly. I used a 9x13 inch pyrex casserole dish.

will be longer, about 30-40 minutes.  You will know when your bread pudding is done when the liquid mixture has become a springy custard.

When done, remove from the oven

If 'over turning' the pudding onto a dessert plate, run a table knife around the rim to loosen the mixture.

and let cool in the water bath for approx. 30 minutes, then chill before serving.

Garnish with some additional Baileys, and a dollop of Fresh Whipped Cream!!  Recipe for Fresh Whipped Cream is HERE.

Pour a little Bailey's over the top. Just for good measure, you know. Then top with a dollop of whipped cream!

That’ll put a little spring in ‘yer step!

And that beats the heck out of a Shamrock Shake any day!

Bon Appetite and Bonne Chance in Your Adventures In Cookery,

Never fear - Chocolate Emergency Cake is here!!

February – it’s a toughie. Here’s a quick and easy cake recipe to sooth the weary soul. Next time you’re at the store, pick up it’s few simple ingredients so you’ll be ready if a “chocolate emergency” strikes.

Here’s a from-scratch cake that requires no sifting, egg-white whipping, no troublesome pan preparation and no fretting. You can whip it up in 25 minutes start to finish, and it’s best when eaten while still warm. Very gooey, very chocolately, and very, very yummy. Chocolate therapy!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Shannon’s Chocolate “Emergency” Cake

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, F

Spray a 9×13 inch casserole pan with non-stick spray.

Throw these ingredients in a bowl:

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

In a medium sized saucepan, melt:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

When melted add:

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

stir well.

Add the warm chocolate mixture to the flour/sugar mixture and stir.

Next add:

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir until incorporated and pour into your pan.

It will just cover the bottom and look more like brownies than cake.

Bake for 15 minutes.

While it’s baking, take the same medium sized saucepan, wash it out and get ready to make the pourable icing.

Icing:

Melt in saucepan (again):

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

When melted, add:

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Stir well. Bring to a boil, then add:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

It will look kind of like a mess when you start. Keep stirring and soon you’ll have a nice fudgey sauce. I may make this again one day and dip fruit in it. Feel free to eat it off the spatula as you go.