Cooking web notes

  Hope you doing good! We had a beautiful, busy and entertaining weekend.  My daughter is big on festivities. Every holiday she likes to do something special be it either game or food.  I guess it's her age where she wants to share all the fun stuff with her friends.  She is always challenging me in her cutest way to bake or make a goody or two and now I secretly look forward to these challenges.  The egg hunt was our first fun factor for Easter and we declared it a huge success.  So Easter Sunday came and I surprised her with these cute cupcakes.  Her expression on seeing them was priceless and made all the effort worthwhile.  I knew I had won another challenge.  My toddler enjoys everything that his sister does.  Its like you hear an echo.  She makes an expression or says something and shortly my son will echo it.   


See those chocolate eggs on the top? Well, my son has a fetish for those cute fellows.  He ate all the chocolate eggs from the cakes and the rest of us had to do with just the nests :-)
Ingredients:

For cupcakes:

Unsalted Butter(at room temp)- 3/4 cup
Brown Sugar- 1/4 cup
Granulated white sugar - 3/4 cup
Eggs- 2
Yogurt- 1 Tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Flour- 1 1/2 cup
Baking powder- 1 tsp
Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/8 tsp
Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp
Nutmeg powder- 1/4 tsp
Walnuts chopped (optional)- 1/2 cup
Grated carrot- 1 1/2 cup


For Creamcheese frosting:

Cream cheese- 8oz, at room temp
Butter- 1/4 cup
Confectioner's sugar- 1 cup
Pure vanilla extract- 1tsp

For the nest and eggs:

Sweetened coconut flakes
Green food coloring
M&M peanut butter flavor/any egg shaped candies




Method:

1.Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
2.Grease or line the muffin tray with paper liners.
3.Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a mixing bowl.
4.Beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
5.Add the eggs one at a time and beat to mix in.
Add the vanilla extract and the yogurt and mix well.
6.Now fold in the wet mixture into the dry mixture alternately with the grated carrots and walnut.
7.Spoon into the muffin tray until the cups are 3/4th full.
8.Bake till the toothpick inserted comes out clean.This takes about 18-20 minutes.
9.Cool completely on a wire rack before you do the frosting.
10.Beat the cream cheese and butter well, till it gets soft.
11.Add the powdered sugar and beat well to mix in.
12.Add the vanilla extract and beat in.
13.Spoon onto the top of each cupcakes.
14.Take about 1/2 cup coconut flakes in a bowl and mix the green color.
15.Spoon this colored coconut flakes onto the top of frosting and place the egg candies.
16.Serve the nest and eggs to your loved ones :-)




Notes:

1.This recipe gives you 16-18 standard size cup cakes.
2.This tastes good even without frosting

Contributor: Namitha