Carrot cupcakes!

This past weekend I enjoyed a few beautiful days in Massachusetts with the inlaws. After several sticky and humid days in New York, it was a pleasure to escape to the city for a few days of cool coastal weather. As usual, a trip to see the inlaws means a batch of carrot cake must be made. I originally baked the famous triple layer carrot cake recipe for my mother inlaw several years ago, and she has since declared it one of her favorite cakes. As such, I make an effort to prepare some for her each time I see her.

I have made this recipe many times before with varying levels of success. Though the recipe is quite simple, there are a few things that can lead to falling cakes if you are not careful. First off, I recommend buying whole carrots, peeling them, and then running them through a food processor instead of buying pre-grated carrots. In my experience, the pre-grated carrots are too large for the cake and emit too much moisture during baking. I also recommend processing the nuts (I have made this with both walnuts and pecans. Both work well). This way you get the flavor of the nuts in the cake, but those who dislike the texture of nut pieces in their cake won't be bothered.

So, a little over a week into this whole blogging thing and I am already discovering that committing to regular updates can be a challenge. For the past few weeks, my husband was traveling constantly for work leaving me with tons of free time in the evenings after work. For the past two weeks he has been home and it has thrown me off schedule! I am not complaining - I am very happy to have him home... but having him home means less baking and less posting. Over the next few weeks I expect to be baking and posting with less frequency (yes, this is pathetic considering the brief amount time I have been doing this), as I will be out of town for several weekends in a row.