If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw me gushing about how happy I was to be done with finals... and then you probably saw my Tweet of me dying because I had the best smelling/most beautiful cake ever in the oven. Well, that was... Thursday. And I had promised I would post the amazing cake the next day, but you must forgive me cause I got caught up with real life and I've been so busy, I haven't even been able to get on the computer til now! But... now is the time. To reveal a cake that was so unbelievably good, it was just crazy. I know dark chocolate and pears sounds kinda strange, especially when you add brown butter and breadcrumbs to the mix, but this is honestly magic just waiting to happen! This is a cake you need to taste to believe. I feel like I'm advertising this cake, but I honestly could not get over how good the batter was. And once it was baked... oh, forget about it. AMAZING, I tell you!
Okay, yes, I know it doesn't look that impressive. I guess it kinda looks bland, even. But hiding in that cake is some serious flavor that is deliciously addicting! It's unbelievable what difference brown butter makes over regular butter... I think I need to jump on the bandwagon of brown butter already! Better late than never, I guess! Now, onto other things... I love winter. If you've been following me long enough, you know I live in Texas, and summers in Texas are brutally hot. There's no escaping the heat. Winter on the other hand, is warmly welcomed, until it gets to the point where it's 30 degrees outside in the middle of the afternoon... and there is no snow. None! Just cold. Ugh. Another thing I don't like about winter is its lack of seasonal fresh fruit... pretty much pears and oranges, and well, that's it. Lucky for you, this recipe calls for pears and it will hopefully break you out of the boring pear rut you may be in. I don't know. All I do know is this cake is fantastic, and it was gone in one night. ONE night. That should convince you of how amazing this is. :)
Well, this seems like the fourth recipe in a row that contains vegetables... I should just be called the Veggie Fairy! In case you missed it, I've got sweet potato pie, pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip muffins, and pumpkin swirl brownies. Not to mention all the other veggie recipes I've made that aren't all right after each other... Feel free to check those out and feel guilt-free about desserts that contain good-for-you vegetables. :) Anyways, as you may know, I'm a nanny to the most wonderful little girl ever... we will just call her H. I've been taking care of Little H since she was 1 1/2.... and now she's 4! Waaaah! It makes me so very sad. I'm gonna be a mess when I have my own kids. Little H and I hang out every day, and every day we make snacks for her brothers for when they come back from school. Fridays are her favorites because we always make special treats like brownies or cookies or cupcakes. Yesterday we made zucchini cupcakes, and they were deeeelicious! Anything that tastes good AND gets the kids to eat their vegetables is a good recipe in my book.
I took advantage of all the Christmas "scenery" in their house to take some lovely Christmas-y pictures, even though zucchini cupcakes are usually not a food people think of when thinking about the holiday season. It makes sense though, green(ish) cupcakes and red/white wrappers make them perfectly appropriate! You can't see the green very much because of the snowfall of powdered sugar on top, but you can definitely tell when you bite into them. Little H and her brothers helped me make these cupcakes, and even though the batter looked really super gross.... like puke or dog food or something... they were good sports and admitted that even though it looked bad, it smelled really yummy. Once baked, they looked more appetizing and tasted as good as we'd hoped. :) I'm sure these could be turned into zucchini muffins with some whole wheat flour to give them more body, and maybe some crunchy oatmeal or something for added fiber. These do contain walnut chunks though, which I thought were a delicious addition. These zucchini cupcakes are easy and delicious, and they should definitely be added to your recipe stash. :)
