Cake,  Dessert,  Food,  Fun,  Vegetables

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

October 3, 2011 /

Weekends go by too fast. It is just a fact of life. Every time the weekend comes I am so ecstatic and then it seems in the blink of an eye it is gone and I am stuck behind my desk at work again.

This weekend WAS a lot of fun though which I am sure is why it seemed to go even faster than I wanted it to. I was able to meet up with one of my old friends John in Mystic CT. Not only did I get to see a lot of history at the Mystic Seaport but I also got to catch up with one of my good friends.

John and I worked together back when I was right out of college. We worked together at Chili’s near Philly. Yes that Chili’s (::sings:: baby back ribs, ::deep singing voice:: BBQ sauce!). He and I worked CONSTANTLY so we were always together. If I think back to how many double shifts I worked at that restaurant, it is kind of horrendous. We would always take our breaks together so we had a lot of time to bond haha. It was so great seeing him and being able to catch up! Stories upon stories were shared which is always fun, I think.

Another thing that was good was we were able celebrate John’s birthday! He just celebrated a birthday this past week so I was glad I was able to share that with him as well. Of course, I couldn’t show up without some kind of baked good for him to celebrate with. When I asked him what he wanted he told me he wanted “some kind of carrot cake”. I thought about it and cupcakes always transport better than cakes so I decided to make carrot cake cupcakes for him, with traditional cream cheese icing.

I personally didn’t have one but John seemed to really enjoy them, which was the whole point I suppose :-). Happy Birthday John!

Adapted from Paula Deen’s Recipe here.

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 8oz. can of crushed pineapple, well drained
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3 cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

For Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350º

While you are preparing batter, set out butter and cream cheese to come to room temperature for your frosting later.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce, sugars, pineapple and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the carrots. Fold in pecans (I made about 6 without nuts so that Patrick could enjoy them too xox).

Pour the batter into a muffin pan that has been lined with foil liners. Make sure and spray each with cooking spray so the cupcakes don’t stick once they are done. Fill each liner about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool completely before you frost.

Frosting:

In a mixer combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

I used a #22 tip (large tip) and a pasty bag to ice the cupcakes.

These cupcakes seemed to go over really well. Patrick enjoyed his sans nuts cupcakes and John enjoyed his with. My Daddy seemed to enjoy the leftovers quite thoroughly as well 😛

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