I am still trying to lose weight for our holiday in Italy at the end of September hence these wee baby cupcakes. It does work, you know. There’s no need to completely deprive oneself of all the joys of eating, but this keeps it under control. I must say, these are very little so you might want to nibble at them or you will find them gone in a mouthful. And then you will feel deprived.
I am using the trick these days of eating slowly and thoughtfully so the experience lasts longer. Sometimes, you are eating something delicious but talking your head off to someone and suddenly the food is gone and you can’t remember eating it. So sad.
A couple of years ago, I was standing at Machu Picchu in Peru in the pouring rain with a sick son and a needy American girl. And I could have thought, dang it all, here I am in this amazing place and it’s all ruined or I could have just thought, here I am in this amazing place. I chose the last one. The American girl had got up at some ungodly hour to queue to climb Huayna Picchu, which is accessed from Machu Picchu. There are a limited number of people who are allowed to climb it each day and we were there for only a day on a small group tour so it was do or die. Well, she missed out by three people. On top of that it was raining for the first and only time on our two week tour. She was drenched, distraught and wouldn’t shut up. Dario had a temperature which was rising and yes, it kept raining, which meant that up that high, basically we were in the clouds and could see very little.
We followed the tour guide all about the place while he spouted out wondrous and marvellous facts with the girl, who had decided to latch onto me and sick Dario, chattered incessantly about how miserable and cold she was. I tuned her out and imagined life up there in the clouds on the top of the world with the danger of toppling over the edge – yes, it was darned steep – and was bewitched. Just to let you know Machu Picchu is my favourite place on earth and I have travelled so far to over forty countries. Anyway, I wanted to get Dario back to the hotel and reassured the girl that we would get an early bus back down soon and leave the others up there. That calmed her a little. There was just one more section to see at the highest point and we diligently climbed upward, pausing to catch our breath (high altitude = little oxygen, you know) and then, as we arrived, the rain stopped, the cloud lifted and the sun came out. Did I tell you that Machu Picchu is my favourite place on earth? It was spectacular. We were there among the angels high in the mountain range with the steepest mountains I have ever seen. The town below in the valley seemed like kilometers away, straight down. The edges of the mountains were jagged and amazing.
I could see the clouds starting to move in again so I sat down and so did Dario and the girl. I said to her, ” I know this has been miserable for you but take a snapshot of this moment right here, right now and keep it in your heart forever. This moment is what you must remember of Machu Picchu, not the rest.” And we sat there while the clouds approached and drank it in. It was truly magical and that snapshot I took in my mind is still there, bright and clear.
The next day I proceeded to get sick too and we both flew back home from Peru very much under the weather with what turned out to be swine flu. But you can’t erase that moment from my mind.
To get back to my original point, you have to be very present while you eat these tiny cupcakes or it will be over before you have taken that snapshot.
This recipe comes from a cookbook I am reviewing called 150 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson. Based on this cupcake recipe, I can certainly recommend it but you will have to wait until I have baked a few more before I give my final verdict on the book.
Disclaimer: I have been given this cookbook free for the purposes of reviewing it but the opinions are my own.
This recipe is not low Fodmap.
- 1½ cup of flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- ⅓ cup milk
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- Pinch of salt
- 2¼ cups of icing sugar
- In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar and eggs until smooth.
- Add the carrot and zucchini and mix.
- Alternatively stir in the flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth.
- Line a mini cupcake pan with cupcake papers and scoop the batter into them.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove onto a rack and let cool completely.
- In a bowl, using an electric beater, beat together the butter, salt and cream cheese until creamy.
- With beater on low,beat in the sugar, ½ cup at a time so that the sugar does not fly all over the place.
- Increase speed and beat until light and fluffy.
- Spread or pipe the icing over the cupcakes.
Brilliant writing – great story – Diana and Terrry
Thanks, Terry and Diana. It was an amazing moment in time.
Suzanne
Your holiday to Italy sounds like it will be amazing. What a great time you will have. I love the look of these cupcakes – they are so cute and I bet they were delicious xx
They are delicious. I am looking forward to the holiday.
Suzanne
Suzanne nice to know about your holiday and such a unique cupcake with carrots and zucchini last time I tried my cake with zucchini tasted disaster… yours look good
Maria, these really do taste very good. There is no zucchini taste.
Suzanne
Hmmm will try them
Beautiful post Suzanne! I love that you choose to take in the experience and make it so special. Machu Pichu is on my list of places to visit, can’t wait. Your cupcakes are just the right size for me. I often over eat sweets that are normal size so small sizes are my preference. Thanks for sharing:)
Thanks, Nancy. Put Machu Picchu to the top of your list and then put Angkor Wat in Cambodia straight after it.
Suzanne
What lovely cupcakes and I love your point about keeping everything in perspective – so true!
We do sometimes forget to stand back and see the big picture.
Suzanne
What a wonderful recipe this looks to be. I love carrot cake and zucchini cookies, so this is right up my alley. Pinning this to make them too! I leave for Italy Tuesday, so it’s too late for me now to lose the weight I wanted to :-). I was in Peru years ago, but had to abort the trip due to a pinched nerve in my foot which needed surgery. So I related to the excellent advice you gave to the American girl! Really enjoyed reading your post.
I’m sorry about the aborted trip – sounds painful. People often don’t make it to Machu Picchu because of altitude sickness. We also went to Lake Titicaca which is even higher and there were some human wrecks there. Maybe you will get back one day. Have a great trip to Italy.
Suzanne
Suzanne, I cannot get over how cute and delicious these cupcakes are!! And your food styling and photos are gorgeous! Shared your link on my FB Page, hope that’s ok 🙂
Thanks, Jaime and of course you can share the link.
Suzanne
Got to your beautifully told but frustrating travel tale a wee bit late: sometimes real life insists on taking over and refuses to hand over the minutes and an hour or two 🙂 ! You tell the story well and some form of this has kind’of happened somewhere around the world to each of us. And one hopes the glass has been half full and not half empty at the time! Machu Picchu I’ll never see because of three incompetent heart valves and the height involved and I have been within a coo-ee of Angkor Wat to be turned back by war: that is still well-and-truly on my bucket list 🙂 !
I’ve missed you around here. Best not to test your dodgy heart valves and anyway, there are heaps of amazing places all round the world. What a shame about Angkor Wat but that is still doable though it is rather hot there and you need to be careful not to get heat stroke. I had a wee episode with a Buddhist priest when I thought I might pass to the other world but all ended well.
Suzanne
Thank yoou! Well, I am one of these quite peculiar people who does not eat what most of the world so desires: cakes, cookies, desserts, even most smoothies and other drinks! It does not matter whether the recipe is ‘healthy’ or not: me and mine simply have not been interested from my childhood on. I love a first course/main course tho’: all things savoury 🙂 ! Learned awhile back in blogging that it was rather undiplomatic to say so in response to a perfectly lovely recipe – this has probably been the reason for silences + an exceptionally busy work/study/writing regimen! Hope you have a happy week!
Beautiful, beautiful post Suzanne!
we all rush through life sometimes and miss amazing snapshots!
thank you for the reminder
You’re welcome, Sawsan. I have to remind myself of this all the time too.
Suzanne
Swine flu! Poor you. Really excellent story though. I’m guilty, too, of not stopping to smell the roses (or whatever cliche you prefer 😉 and rushing too much. Anyway, good recipe too. Alas, I’m never fooled by mini-anything – I just eat more. The only way I can lose weight is just eat a whole lot less. Getting older is by and large a really good thing, but as you age your energy requirements just aren’t the same – and it takes a while to adjust appetite, portion size, and all of that good stuff. Really good post – thank you.
I get you about the energy requirements etc. – such a shame.
These days we all rush too much.
Suzanne
Hi there thanks for the recipe! I would like to point out that it would probably be helpful to say how many cupcakes the recipe yields and also what temperature the oven should be at. I know what temperature to bake cupcakes but people baking for the first time might not know what temperature to bake them at.
Thank you!