Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake is a Vegetable

For years our family's favorite Easter dessert is the Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake with Buttery Glaze and Cream Cheese Frosting.  This recipe has been passed down through a few generations of our family.  I can honestly say that I have never tasted a better carrot cake...ever!  I think our grandma's knew how to do it right.  

I am getting ready to make this tonight to take to the family Easter egg hunt and thought I would share it again with you.  If you are wanting the Carrot Cake is a Vegetable embroidery pattern...it is a freebie for my followers.  Shoot me an email at tweetledeedesignco@gmail.com and I will email it to you before the weekend!!!  

 Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake

2 Cups Flour

2 Teas Baking Soda

2 Teas Cinnamon

1/2 Teas Salt

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside....

3 Eggs

3/4 Cup Oil

3/4 Cup Buttermilk

2 Cups Sugar

2 Teas Vanilla

Mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

1 8 0z. Can of Crushed Pineapple

2 Cups Shredded Carrot

1 Cup Flaked Coconut

1 Cup Chopped Nuts

Add pineapple, coconut, carrot and nuts and mix well.  Pour into a greased 9" x 13" glass cake pan and bake a t 350 degrees for approximately one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Prepare glaze....

Buttery Glaze

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Teas Baking Soda

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

1/4 Pound Butter

1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Combine all ingredients and boil for 1 minute.  Remove cake from oven and while hot, pour glaze over cake.  Cool completely.  Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 Pound Butter

1 8oz. Package Cream Cheese

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Combine butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla, powdered sugar and beat until think and smooth.  Frost over cooled cake.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter with your loved ones and YES Carrot Cake is a vegetable!  I'm off to unpack a few baskets and decorate a few little eggs for Saturday's hunt.

Spring is Here

We have had warm sunshine followed by blizzards of snow for the last couple of weeks.  I don't know whether to get out sandals or boots in the morning, because it changes by the hour here in Utah....but we did get a little bit of green and a hit of a white bunny tail last week!  So to welcome spring (and maybe coax it out a little sooner) my Spring Wool Sampler is on sale for the month of April!  
I hope your little flowers are popping up and the white snow is melting off fast.  We are busy getting ready for the Easter Bunny and looking forward to a little more sunshine!

Happy International Waffle Day - Liege Waffles

Hurrah for my family tonight...it is International Waffle Day!  We love waffles...all the buttery nooks and crannies filled with melted butter, fruit, cream, syrup...or your favorite spread.  What isn't there to love about these sweet little bits of pastry?

Any waffle is good, right? But our family favorite is the Liege Waffle.  They are a richer, sweeter and chewier waffle that have little bits of pearl sugar baked into them.  I find my Larr's Pearl Sugar at our local grocery store, but if you can not find it, it is available on Amazon. These waffles different than batter waffles, in that they are made with proofed yeast before you add it to the other ingredients and then you let everything rise. Once it is risen you knead the pearl sugar in and cook it at a high temperature for only a minute or two.  If you cook it too long the sugar caramelizes too much on the outside and you get a campfire burnt taste. Which could be a good thing if you like that taste!

We made hundreds of these a few months ago for our son's wedding and they so delish that our family won't eat any other kind of waffle! There are a lot of recipes out there for these little pastries...and after trying several of them, this one is our family's favorite...

Liege Waffles

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3 teaspoons instant yeast

2 large eggs, beaten

1 cup softened butter

3 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups bread flour

2 cups belgian pearl sugar

Begin by adding the whole milk to a pan,  scald and let it cool to warm.  Add the warm water to the pan.  Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar to the milk and water, add the yeast and lightly stir together. Allow the yeast to get foamy. 

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars. Add the egg, honey and vanilla. stir together and add the yeast mixture. Place in a mixer and using the dough hook, add 2 cups of flour. Mix until the dough is mixed thoroughly, add the remaining flour and cover.

 Allow to rest for 4 hours or up to 24 hours.  After it is risen, punch down and knead in the pearl sugar. Separate the dough into 8 to 10 balls and place on a hot, greased waffle iron. Cook until golden brown (about a minute and a half to two minutes. Serve your favorite toppings.

I hope you enjoy these tasty little waffles as much as our family does...and don't be intimated by the yeast and kneading.  It is soooo worth the extra time.  Nothing tastes as good as a liege waffle with fresh berries, biscoff, and cream!!!  Enjoy...

Utah Brides Blog - Maggie & Taylor

We were so excited this morning to see Maggie & Taylor's wedding featured on Utah Bride Blog!  We loved the write up and sentiments expressed by Maggie, and appreciate the talented Lindsey Orton for capturing every little detail of her special day.  

All of the details of Maggie & Taylor's wedding were handmade for them with love.  Amber Hicks made the cake Maggie dreamed of...and it tasted divine! The flowers by Alicia were spectacular and the staff at The Springville Museum of Art were amazing. It was the perfect venue for this artistic bride.  The lighting, ribbon canopy, furniture pieces and marque are available events and weddings.  For information you can contact me at tweetledeedesignco@gmail.com or by phone at 801.623.1458.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Green Velvet Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!  We love this celebration of our family's Irish heritage and especially the food we get to eat.  Every year the kids ask when we are roasting the corned beef and cabbage....and every year it goes faster than a leprechaun can find a pot o' gold at the end of a rainbow.  I thought I would share one of my favorite little pots of green, our little Green Velvet Cupcakes with Irish Creme Frosting.  I hope you enjoy them as much as our little leprechauns do.

St. Patrick's Day Green Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Cup Cocoa

1 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

1 Cup Buttermilk

2 Large Eggs

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

3 Tablespoons Green Food Coloring

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl add flour, sugar, soda, salt, and cocoa and sift together and set aside.  In your mixer add mayonnaise, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.  Slowly add the dry ingredients that you sifted together and mix until smooth.  

Place the cupcake papers in the cupcake pans and fill them evenly about two thirds of the way full.  Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minuets.  Let cool.

Irish Creme Frosting

1/4 Cup of Room Temperature Butter

1 Package of Room Temperature Cream Cheese

Approximately 3 to 4 Cups of Powdered Sugar

Irish Creme Flavored Creamer

In a mixer with a whisk attachment, add butter and cream cheese and cream together until smooth.  Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and begin to mix together.  Slowly add the Irish Creme Creamer until the mixture becomes light and smooth.  You may want to add more sugar or more creamer until you get the consistency you want.  You will want the frosting to keep it's peaks as you pull the whisk out to get a pretty peak on the cakes.

Once the cupcakes are cool frost with your favorite tip...eat and enjoy!