Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I enjoyed the carrot cake I made the other day so much that I decided to try it with cupcakes. I had no idea how they would turn out. I had never had a carrot cake cupcake before. Much to my surprise they turned out fantastic and were every bit as good as a slice of carrot cake! I followed the recipe exactly and they were ridiculously easy to make. I will definitely be making these again very soon!

Carrot Cake Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups finely shredded carrots

8 oz can crushed pineapple (drained)

1/2 cup coconut

1 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

Grease cake pan(s). I always spray my round cake pan with Wilton's Bake Easy Nonstick Spray and then I place a piece of parchment paper (cut in the same size as the bottom of the cake pan - a circle) at the bottom of the pan. In doing this, I never have problems with my cake sticking to the inside of the pan. With cupcakes, I just use cupcake liners (this recipe yields about 32 cupcakes).

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add carrots, pineapple, coconut, oil, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer till combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan or cupcake pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 60-75 minutes or until center of cake is no longer jiggly. For cupcakes, bake about 20 minutes. This particular recipe always takes a long time to bake. Much longer than a box cake because it is a much heavier cake. Just use your best judgement in regards to the baking time. Once the cake is finished baking, let it cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes and then carefully remove cake from pan. Cool completely then frost as desired with Cream Cheese Frosting (see recipe below).

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat together two 3 oz packages cream cheese, softened; 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened; and 2 teaspoons vanilla till light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups additional sifted powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency. This recipe makes the perfect amount to frost cupcakes, but you will need to double it if you are frosting and layering an entire cake. Just for fun I used leftover frosting and mixed it with orange and green food coloring to create a little carrot on top. I used Wilton decorating tip 2D to ice the cupcake and Wilton tips 1 and 3 to pipe the carrot.