Carrot-Coconut-Pineapple Spice CupCakes

Carrot-Coconut-Pineapple Spice CupCakes

with Rummy Cream Cheese Icing

 

CupCake Ingredients:

1 cup chopped Dates

3/4 pound raw Carrots (about 2 1/2 cups finely grated)

½ cup crushed canned Pineapple tidbits

2 cups All-purpose Flour

1 cup shredded Coconut

1 teaspoon Baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

2 teaspoons ground Ginger

4 large eggs

1 & ¼ cup granulated white Sugar

½ cup brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Vanilla

1 cup unsalted Butter (2 sticks)

2 teaspoons Rum extract

 

Rummy-Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted Butter, room temperature (1 stick)

8 ounces  Cream cheese, room temperature

2 ½ cups confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

3 teaspoons dark Rum, or rum extract

1 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

Heavy cream to desired thickness (1 teaspoon at a time)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray two - 9 x 2 inch (23 x 5 cm) cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper. 

 

Peel and finely grate the carrots. Chop dates in food processor. Drain juice from pineapple tidbits and set aside. Toast coconut until golden brown.

 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

 

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the rum and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots, pineapple, coconut and dates.  

 

Evenly divide the batter into 2 cupcakes pans, totaling 24 cupcakes, each lined with a cupcake liner. Bake approx. 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

 

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Rummy-Cream Cheese Frosting:

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese and butter, on low speed, just until blended with no lumps. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth.  Beat in the vanilla extract, rum, and nutmeg. Gradually add whole cream until you reach the desired consistency and thickness. Pipe into cupcakes.

 

Caramel-Rum Flan

Flan is one of the easiest desserts you can make. Plus, which is such a bonus, it can be made ahead, and placed in the fridge to chill until you're ready to serve. It's delicious the in traditional style, but you can add a few additional key ingredients, and make it the BOMB!

Caramel –Rum Flan

Ingredients:

1 cup and 1/2 cup sugar

6 large eggs

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 13 oz cans evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon dark Rum

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. You will need 6-8 ramekins and a large baking pan to place them inside.  

Pour 1 cup sugar in warm pan over medium heat. Constantly stir sugar until it browns and becomes caramel. Quickly pour approximately 2-3 tablespoons of caramel in each ramekin, tilting it to swirl the caramel around the sides. Reheat caramel if it starts to harden.

In a mixer or with a whisk, blend the eggs together. Mix in the milks then slowly mix in the 1/2 cup of sugar, then the vanilla & rum. Blend smooth after each ingredient is added.

Pour custard into caramel lined ramekins. Place ramekins in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. Bake for 45 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready.

Remove and let cool. Let each ramekin cool in refrigerator for 1 hour. Invert each ramekin onto a small plate, the caramel sauce will flow over the custard.

White Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ingredients

·    3/4 cup butter-at room temperature

·    3/4 cup white sugar

·    3/4 cup brown sugar

·    2 eggs

·    2 teaspoons pure Vanilla

·    2 tablespoons dark Rum

·    2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·    1 teaspoon baking soda

·    1 teaspoon Salt

·    1 cup Macadamia nuts

·    2 cups white Chocolate or good quality Vanilla baking chips

Directions

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, rum and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.

Lastly add in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips. Chill dough in freezer for about 15-20 minutes. Using a tablespoon measure out a large rounded size spoonful, and place onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375°F for 8 minutes. Cook on pan for 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dark Rum Chocolate Cake Balls

(Can also be used to make cake pops)

Cake Balls:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge cake Mix

(any ingredients called for by cake mix directions)

½ cup Dark Rum or Kahlua (I used Kahlua last time & it was great) which you will substitute for ½ cup of the water called for in the cake mix

1 teaspoon pure Vanilla

Icing (use the recipe below or you can always use 1 cup pre-made, but honestly the one below will make your cake balls much better).

Icing:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. Mascarpone cheese at room temperature

1/3 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup Honey

1 tablespoon dark Rum

Coating:

1 large package chocolate Almond Bark-Melted (I also used a vanilla flavored candy coating for the white cake balls, which can be colored with Wilton’s gel edible food coloring for variety).

Any other sprinkles or decorations you would like to add.

Directions:

Preheat oven as directed. Follow cake directions on the back of your box, but reduce water & add additional ingredients. Bake cake according to directions. Remove & cool on a large rack. Once cooled, remove cake and crumble into fine crumbs in a large mixing bowl, removing any crispy or hard edges.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, mascarpone, cream cheese, confection sugar, and honey together. Once combined, add rum. Set aside 1 cup. The remaining icing can be refrigerated and used at a later date. Add icing to cake crumbs, mixing well, until the entire cup of icing has been absorbed by cake. Set into freezer to chill for at least 20 minutes.

Remove and measure out equal scoops of cake mix to obtain uniform measurements for cake balls. Once all of your cake balls are measured, roll and form into smooth balls, and set onto parchment paper, and allow to chill in the freezer while you melt your candy coating or Almond bark. Remove cake balls from freezer, and dip into candy coating. I found that setting each cake ball into the coating, then scooping in onto a fork while the excess coating drips off, then pushing it carefully into the parchment paper with a skewer stick cut in half, was the best technique. Add any sprinkles or decoration now so that it will set. I stored the cake balls in Tupperware overnight, but they are good at room temperature, covered for up to 2 days. Enjoy!