Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Delicious cupcakes with NEXT LEVEL frosting.

Original recipe from Chelsea's Messy Apron.

I made these for a friend's birthday party. It was my first time making carrot cake anything from scratch and I was nervous when I saw the batter (pics below) because it looks like some sort of veggie soup. Thankfully, they were an absolute hit. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting is especially out of this world.

See what I mean about the veggie soup thing?

Recipe

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 &1/3 cups flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 & 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon EACH: ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves

• 2/3 cup light-brown brown sugar, packed

• 1/3 cup white granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or use 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract)

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1 and 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots (~3 medium sized carrots)

Cinnamony, cream cheesy, perfection

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1 package (8 oz) full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature (do not use low fat)

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• Optional: 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.

3. In a separate large mixing bowl, using hand mixers, beat together the brown sugar, white sugar, and eggs until combined. Mix in applesauce and vanilla extract.

4. With mixer running on low speed, slowly pour in vegetable oil and mix until combined. Finely shred the carrots (on the small side of your grater and measure to ensure you have 1 and 1/2 cups.

5. Add the dry ingredients right on top of the wet ingredients and the shredded carrots right on top of that. Stir until JUST combined being careful to not overmix.

6. Pour batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about 3/4 full. You should use all of the batter between the 12 cavities.

7. Bake in preheated oven about 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick when inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean.

8. Cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

For the frosting:

1. While they are baking, prepare the frosting. Using a hand mixer, cream together the room temperature butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until completely smooth.

2. Mix in vanilla extract, sea salt and cinnamon.

3. With mixer running on low speed, slowly add powdered sugar and beat until well blended and smooth. Chill the frosting while the cupcakes finish cooling.

4. Frost completely cooled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and if desired, sprinkle crushed pecans on top.

My piping skills leave a lot to be desired. The frosting was quite soft and came out rapidly so I would use a larger piping tip.