The following recipe is adapted from Easy Caramel Frosting  from my 1963 copy of McCall’s Cookbook.

1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Melt butter in saucepan and continue over heat until the butter is brown, but not black. There’s good step-by-step instructions at All Recipes on how to brown butter.

Remove pan from heat and add lemon juice and brown sugar–stir until smooth.

Return pan to a med-low heat and bring to boil while constantly stirring. Boil mixture for one minute and remove from heat. Then add cream, stir until cream is incorporated.

Return pan to heat and stir until just boiling. Then remove from heat, add salt and let mixture cool to room temperature. When you taste the mixture at this point is may taste very strong and a bit too salty–that’s what you want.

Transfer caramel mixture to mixing bowl and slowly beat in sugar and vanilla until smooth.

I’ve seen recipes lately that call for goat cheese icing, but I wanted to attempt an entire recipe–cake and icing–using only goat dairy. My first attempt at an icing was all goat cheese and the result was simply too much goat flavor. I didn’t use goat butter simply because the grocery store didn’t have any. The final recipe uses a cupcake batter based on buttermilk cake, and the icing combines both goat cheese and cream cheese–resulting in a tart, almost lemon yogurt flavor.

Pre-heat oven to 350°F

Cupcake Batter
1/2 cup softened butter, unsalted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup goat milk (plus 2 tblsp fresh lemon juice)

In small bowl combine goat milk and lemon juice, set aside for 5-10 minutes.

In mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time.  Add lemon zest and extract.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture, alternating with goat milk in 2 batches.

Use ice cream scoop to fill cupcake tins. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool and ice.

Goat Cheese Icing
8 oz. plain goat cheese
3 oz. plain cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (slightly more if needed)
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 2 lemons

Beat goat cheese and cream cheese until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add sugar and beat on high for another minute. Add in lelmon juice and rind and beat until combined. Mix in more sugar, by the tablespoon, if mixture is too loose or too tart.

I haven’t made these in a while so when a co-worker suggested I make some I happily obliged. This is one of those simple dishes that, with just a few ingredients, bring a sugary, sweet smell to the kitchen and satisfies a sweet tooth.

It’s one of the first recipes I remember making with my grandmother. She always had a box of rice cereal and a bag of marshmallows in the cupboard for when we came over–though she always used margarine at the time. If  I remember correctly, it was my middle brother that always asked for these. And I don’t think we ever let them cool completely before eating.

In an attempt to deviate slightly from classic recipe I add about 1/2 – 3/4 cup of almonds and drizzle the final product with a bit of caramel.

It was my first try at salted caramel frosting, and while it was tasty, there wasn’t enough full bodied, caramel flavor. I used this recipe, and even doubled the amount of caramel as some readers suggested, still a little too bland. I also swapped out the kosher salt for grey sea salt–that choice I was happy with.

Time to find a new frosting recipe.

I also had to retry boiling the sugar several times as it crystalized the first two times–when I used a non-stick pan. It was fine once I switched to a stainless steel pot. Has anyone else had the same problem?

Adapted from my grandmother’s recipe–the honey adds a distinct taste and sweetness.

1 1/2 C All purpose flour
1 C Whole wheat flour
2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 Tblsp Ground flaxseed
1 tsp Salt
3 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 c Sugar
2 Tblsp Honey
3 Eggs
1/2 c Vegetable oil
1/2 c Apple sauce (unsweetened)
2 C Grated zucchini (make sure to squeeze the water out of the zucchini)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 C Walnuts (optional)

PREHEAT: oven to 350° F. Grease loaf pan

COMBINE: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flaxseed and cinnamon in bowl. In separate large bowl beat together eggs, applesauce, oil, sugar, vanilla and zucchini until ingredients are smooth. Stir flour mixture into wet mixture until combined. Fold in nuts if desired. Pour batter into two 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pans.

BAKE: for 40 to 45 minutes.

I used a pate sucre dough recipe and strawberry jam–3″ biscuit cutter-too small.

The recipe for the cupcake is here, as noted in the post I use all butter and no shortening. That’s the only difference to my recipe, oh, and I don’t add nuts. Then frost.

Buttercream Frosting 
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons lime juice (fresh)
zest of one lime

In mixer, combine sugar and butter on low speed until blended. Then increase speed and beat for for a few more minutes until smooth
Add lime juice and zest and mix until creamy. I use an Ateco #823 pastry tip to frost.

Edited to add: I injected this batch with lime Jello. To do, bake cupcakes as directed and let cool. Then poke holes in cake and inject warm jello into the cupcake. Put in fridge and let cool before frosting. Photos of process here.

There were hundreds of cupcakes today–some pics up on flickr. Now I must sit down and digest!

I add 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder to boxed chocolate cake mix and prepare as usual.

Chocolate frosting:
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cream

In mixer: cream butter, sugar and cocoa until blended. Add cream and vanilla and whip until smooth.
Piped with an 823 star pastry tip