Carrot Cupcakes

Hello everyone!

I was asked by a couple of people to post the recipe I used for my Halloween Carrot Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes.  So here it is!!  I am going to divide them into two posts so it's easier to read.  Hopefully you aren't 'cupcaked out' by now! haha  Also I am in the process of gathering some Uruguayan recipes to post.  I have been having a very hard time with this, as I have mentioned before, mostly because I don't have a cookbook specifically from there.  But I think that I've got some good ones to tied us over for a little while.

On to the carrot cupcakes!

They are pretty much just like any other carrot cake recipe you've probably seen around - only thing I changed was the amount of sugar I used in them.  Not sure about you guys, but I don't like it when carrot cake is too sweet, especially when the icing itself can be overly sweet. 

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 pound  of carrots, grated

3 eggs

1/3 cup buttermilk

1-2 cups of sugar (I used around 1 1/2 cups I think)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

raisins optional

Method:

Preheat your oven to 325F.  Insert your muffin liners into an ungreased muffin tin.  In a bowl, mix together the carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil vanilla and raisins, if your using them.  Once everything is well mixed, slowly add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices to the mixture, making sure everything is integrated. 

Now you can fill up your cupcake liners!  General rule of thumb is that you only fill them up about 3/4 of the way so they don't spill over during baking.

Bake these 22-28 minutes, depending on your oven's strength.  I only needed to put them in for about 24 minutes.  You will know when they are done by sticking a toothpick or knife in the center of one and it should come out clean.

Before you add any icing, you should let them cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes so the icing doesn't melt when you apply it.

Now the icing is your 'generic' cream cheese icing.  For my cupcakes, again, I tried to add less sugar than the recipe called for, about half.  The only problem with this is that it makes the icing more watery, and thus harder to work with - I haven't figured out at this point what I can substitute the sugar with to make it less watery.  But here is the recipe and instructions either way and you can adjust it as you feel nessissary!

Cream Cheese Icing ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (soft)

12 ounces cream cheese (also at room temperature)

2 - 4 cups icing sugar (I used around 2)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

gel food coloring if desired

Method:

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese for a couple of minutes until it becomes light and fluffy.  Now you can add your vanilla and then sugar a little at a time until it's fully mixed.  This would also be a good time to add food coloring if you are using any.

Now you are ready to ice your cupcakes which ever way you like, either with a piping bag or spread with a spatula.

Hopefully you guys like this recipe and if you have any suggestions please do leave a comment!! Enjoy!