Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake made with an inexpensive root vegetable. Carrot cake is such a homey and humble cake. Due to the high contents of vegetable and vegetable oil, the cake has super moist texture. Also, the following cream cheese frosting has right amount of sweetness and smooth texture. (oh, by the way, you can even use this frosting to make lemon cookies sandwich as well.)

Root vegetable, walnut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove... every ingredient in this recipe reminds me this season, fall. It is getting chilly outside. Why don't you bake a carrot cupcake and enjoy today?


Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Yield: 15 cupcakes / Cooking time: 1 hour*)

* Cooking time 1 hour does not include cupcake cooling time of 2-3 hours.


Ingredients:

Carrot cupcakes

Dry ingredients
+ 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
+ 1 tsp baking soda
+ 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
+ 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
+ a pinch of ground clove
+ a pinch of salt

Wet ingredients
+ 1 cup light brown sugar
+ 3/4 cup vegetable oil
+ 2 large eggs

Carrot / Walnut / Raisin
+ 2.5 cups grated carrots
+ 1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
+ 1 oz raisins




Cream Cheese Frosting
+ 8 oz cream cheese, soften at room temperature
+ 4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, soften at room temperature
+ 1 cups powdered sugar
+ chopped walnut for garnish




Procedures:

Carrot cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

2. Mix all the dry ingredients (except sugar) in a bowl - flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground clove, and salt.


3. Whisk sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl. Add egg one at a time. Whisk until all the sugar, oil and eggs are incorporated.




4. Pour dry ingredients from #2 slowly to wet ingredients from #3 while stirring well.


5. Mix grated carrots, chopped walnuts, and raisin.




6. Line a cupcake pan with parchment liner, and pour the cupcake barrel to 3/4 from top.


7. Bake until cupcakes are golden brown and tester comes out clean when inserted into center, about 30 minutes. Cool over wired rack until the cupcakes are completely cooled down. If the cupcake is warm, it will melt cream cheese frosting.



Cream Cheese Frosting
1. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter with a paddle attached until light and fluffy.


2. Add powdered sugar little by little and beat at low speed until well blended.


Decoration
You can either use a piping bag or small offset spatula to cover the top of cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle the top with some chopped walnuts.



Enjoy~