Recipe

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Photo by Jean | Delightful Repast

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Carrot Recipe
Chef
Jean | Delightful Repast's Notes: Chocolate was my favorite flavor of cake until the day I had carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I was a teenager, and it was love at first bite. My mother and I couldn't find a recipe...
Chocolate was my favorite flavor of cake until the day I had carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I was a teenager, and it was love at first bite. My mother and I couldn't find a recipe for it anywhere, so we made one up. And here it is, with a few minor changes for cupcakes. For cupcakes, I use more finely shredded carrots, more finely chopped nuts, and tiny Zante currants instead of raisins. This is quite a light textured carrot cake, not at all heavy and dense as so many are.

Expand Collapse

1 3/4 cup (8.75 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour Ask a question about this ingredient

1 3/4 cup (10 ounces) finely shredded carrots Ask a question about this ingredient

3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans Ask a question about this ingredient

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put 2½-inch paper bake cups in two standard muffin tins. In small bowl, whisk together flour*, soda, cinnamon and salt. In another small bowl, stir a tablespoon of flour mixture into chopped nuts and currants to coat and separate. *It is important to note that this is a packed measure of unsifted flour.
Ask a question about this step
In large bowl, beat eggs; beat in sugar, then oil. Beat in flour mixture. Stir in carrots, raisins and nuts.
Ask a question about this step
Using a 1/4-cup measure, fill the bake cups with a scant 1/4 cup of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 24 minutes or until they are golden and test done with a toothpick.
Ask a question about this step
Immediately remove from pans and cool on wire rack for an hour. They must be thoroughly cool before frosting.
Ask a question about this step
In bowl of stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and salt. Gradually add powdered sugar (no need to sift) and mix until thoroughly combined, adding milk and food coloring at the end. I usually oppose food coloring, but I like to give a slight peach tint to the frosting if there's going to be more than one kind of cupcake, just so I know which is the carrot. You may need to add a little more milk, a teaspoon at a time, for proper piping consistency. With a pastry bag fitted with a 2D (sometimes I use a 1M) tip, pipe frosting on cupcakes in a classic swirl.
Ask a question about this step