Should of added more butter!

Pecan Cinnamon Cupcakes/Cake

It's been a couple of months (ok, a lot of months!) and our blog has remained quiet; but there's been MANY reasons. Renovations, work, and trying to keep up with the day-to-day demands; But, Ms. Butters has an even better excuse! Pregnancy! Trying to find the time to get together, bake or cook, and photograph and write a post is pretty hard when you're on pregnancy-time. You've all heard of Caribbean-time; well this is much funnier to watch! Mr. Crumbs can remember one night in particular when Ms. Butters actually fell asleep standing up!

If you're a regular, then you know that we heartily promote butter being added to pretty much everything! Dry cake batter - add butter, vegetables seem a little bland - add butter, that glass of milk boring you - add bu... well, maybe that's too far! But the reason for this post is a little different. It all starts with our infamous Maple Carrot Cake, our first recipe that we tested.

We've nicknamed it the baby-popper and when Ms. Butters' baby shower came around; Mr. Crumbs couldn't think of a better thing to bring - besides his gifts! Unfortunately, the cake didn't do the trick and Ms. Butters remained very much pregnant! We're not blaming this on the cake - and are still very much believers that the nickname sticks - we should have just added more butter; plain and simple! (forget what mother nature says!!)

Batter Up!

However, since we've brought it up - lets talk about some of the amazing gifts Ms. Butters received from her FANTASTIC baby shower! Guests were encouraged to bring a children's book instead of the traditional card. Some brought back GREAT memories like the Mr. Men book collection, others were soft cuddly things like the monkey blanket, and some were new finds like "Go the F**K to Sleep" book. Can you guess which one Mr. Crumbs purchased!?

The gifts were well received and our Mamma to be thanked everyone, as she waddled around the room. Now, back to that cake!

Fresh out of the oven

Throughout Ms. Butter's maternity leave she sent Mr. Crumbs  many text messages and emails,  planting the seed that she hadn't had cake in a while. She shared that sugar didn't seem to be well received by baby-butter - SHOCK! - and she was missing it terribly! So to assist in the waiting period; Mr. Crumbs decided to do a bit of research and make Ms. Butter's a CONGRATULATIONS cake for her and her new arrival - well, more for her! Sifting through recipes and cook books, Mr. Crumbs finally decided upon something - a recipe from the LCBO - and chose Pecan Cinnamon Cupcakes - but instead of cupcakes Mr. Crumbs would make it a cake! With the continued successes from the LCBO; this became the natural choice. The recipe stated it would make a dozen cupcakes; so doubling the recipe would make a very nice layered cake.

While Ms. Butters was whisked off to the hospital - but still managed to keep track on the progress of the baking and share updates with all that she was going through: how far dilated she was, the joy of an epidural, and discussions between having a c-section and a "natural birth" - Mr. Crumbs is a very GOOD friend! (and yes, he wrote this particular blog so he can edit it however he wants!) With the cake baked and all the previous text messages erased from his mind - he began to make the icing - not the usual butter cream, but something more: a toffee-esque sauce with icing sugar whisked in. It seemed a bit tricky at first, but turned out AMAZING! If you're a fudge lover, then this icing is for you!

Bring to a rolling boil - the icing - pre-icing sugar

The icing does set pretty fast, so you need to ice those badboys right away - and since Mr. Crumbs decided NOT to make cupcakes (well, he made four as he had a bit of left over batter) he thought it'd be a lot faster! WRONG! The icing set pretty fast and with icing sugar still in the air, he spatula'ed that cake faster than he'd care to share. Since this was a Pecan Cinnamon cake - Mr. Crumbs thought he'd jazz it up by sprinkling chopped praline pecans between the two layers and on top.

All in all the cake was great - not that Mr. Crumbs would know; it's still sitting in the fridge waiting for the happy family to return home. However, those four cupcakes that he conveniently made were eaten and praised by the Crumbs-home. Even the cat liked the icing!

Some modifications that Mr. Crumbs made were:

- Instead of making cupcakes, he made a layered cake using 9" cake pans
- Doubled the cake recipe and tripled the icing recipe
- Instead of using chopped toasted pecans; Mr. Crumbs used chopped praline pecans - sugar, how bad could that be!
- Mr. Crumbs also whipped the icing once the icing sugar was added to ensure that it was thoroughly incorporated and, more importantly to break up the crystalized sugar.

The cake/cupcake can stay out at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week (if it lasts that long!). Also it would go great with an ice-cold glass of milk!

The Cake... man, it's heavy!!

To conclude this post; Mr. Crumbs just wanted to finish it off with: Congratulations Ms. Butters; my friend - we are so happy to welcome your new family member into the group - and considering that this baby is yours; we all know that we have a future-foodie on our hands!

Happy Birthday Baby Butter!