Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I'm bringing back this recipe for exactly one reason: I had a wee little carrot cake from Oakmont Bakery and OMG SO DISAPPOINTING.

Look. I am a Carrot Cake Connoisseur, if you will. For years, that has been my default dessert choice at basically every restaurant ever. I have tried dozens and dozens of variations and attempts and Oakmont Bakery's? Meh. It's fine, but it's not top 10.

This recipe makes for top 2. My other top 2 choice was from a bakery in The Netherlands and I need to try it again in order to decide which is actually the best. I guess I better plan a trip to The Netherlands ...

ANYWAY. Crushed pineapple is the key. Well, that and pecans. Get out of here with your walnuts.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk (I don't keep buttermilk on hand, so I use 3/4 cup skim milk plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice -- put them in a cup together and let them sit for at least one minute. The milk will curdle and will work just fine as a substitute.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated carrots (I use baby carrots, but any carrots will work.)
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple (Drain off the excess juice, but don't stress about it. Just get that stuff at the top of the can.)
1 cup chopped pecans

Note: There are no raisins in this recipe because RAISINS DO NOT BELONG IN CARROT CAKE. Ahem. ;-)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in your pans. This recipe makes about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes, so plan accordingly.

2. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

3. Use an electric mixer to combine the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla extract at low speed in a separate large bowl.

4. Add flour mixture to your large bowl. Mix at low speed until everything is happy.

5. Fold in carrots, pineapple, and pecans.

6. Use a measuring cup to scoop cake mix into the cupcake liners. This cake doesn't rise very much, so fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when you stab it into a cupcake.

8. Allow to cool.

9. Ice with a cream cheese icing. This one is perfect for the job, but double the vanilla extract just for fun.

Mila's Day

Saturdays are normally for the Big Kid ... Hell, all days are for the Big Kid. She's the one with the obnoxious schedule that keeps me running all over the place all of the time. Mila gets to ride along with a few stops just for her, but generally she really is the tag along.

Not today!

Mila had a thing for cheer early this morning, which, UGH. Those two words should not be in a sentence together, especially when one of my children is involved. We can either cheer (no thanks) or be early (also no thanks) but we should not do them together. Regardless, Mila annoyingly put those things in a sentence together so I was forced to be in the car bright and early this morning.

So the kid could stand on top of other kids' hands, way up in the sky, no less. Mila is still a flyer, despite all of her efforts to grow a little taller.

Once Mila was safely back on the ground, I took her to Oakmont Bakery. If I'm driving up 28 for any reason at all, I'm probably going to demand a danish or something. Oakmont Bakery is essentially Mila's definition of heaven on earth, so go right ahead and imagine how excited she was to pick out a few sweets.

It was pretty great.

That led to a real lunch with actual nutritious food, so don't get carried away thinking I'm totally a failure. Given the choice of any restaurant in all the land, both girls will consistently pick either So Fresh or Hello Bistro. I can't explain it. I just choose to enjoy it. Mila went with So Fresh.

And that's when things got REAL crazy.

The Cultural Trust gave me tickets to Pete the Cat at the Byham for this afternoon. I didn't tell Mila that was what we were doing; instead we walked into the theater, I handed her the ticket, and I let her figure out what was happening.

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I think maybe she was excited?

It dawned on me as we settled into our seats that this was a thing that Mila has completely missed out on. COVID hit just as she was finishing kindergarten. That would have been the summer she was old enough for all sorts of things, but she never got to do them. Pete the Cat was her first Children's Theater performance, in fact. She saw Hamilton when she was four in Chicago, but anything that was targeted at her interests? Nope. She missed out on ALL of it over the past two years.

She loved it, of course. So much. She grabbed a flyer that included all of the Children's Theater performances for the next year as we were walking out then spent the evening carefully circling all of the shows she plans to see.

Don't tell her she has a date for CoCoMelon Live with me on Monday. I don't need to be asked "is it time?" 32521306495873025 times before then.

In true "It's Mila's Day" fashion, we ended our adventure with a trip to her favorite playground. As Mila realized that was where we were going, she busted into a huge grin and said, "I have the BEST life," so maybe there should be more Mila Days?

There should definitely be more Mila Days.

Suddenly, She Looks Like a Big Kid