Carrot Cupcakes

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Hey everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic Easter with family and friends. I'm going to make today's post kind of short for two reasons. 1) It's Monday morning, and it feels like a Monday morning. 2) It's my birthday, and that's the perfect excuse to be a little lazy :) 

I made these carrot cupcakes yesterday for Easter dessert and wanted to share them as soon as possible. So today they're doubling as my birthday cupcakes! Carrot cake is one of my favorite types of cake, and this is the best recipe I've found so far. The applesauce makes the cake extra moist and delicious, which is the only way I like my carrot cake. And you can't have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting. They just go hand in hand. 

Hope you all enjoy! Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
• 3/4 pound raw carrots (about 2 1/2 cups), finely grated
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 1 cup safflower, vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.  Place fluted paper liners in 18 muffin cups.

Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Peel and finely grate the carrots. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract and applesauce. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots and chopped nuts. Evenly divide the batter between the 18 muffin cups (fill each cup about 2/3 full) and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.  

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. With a knife or small metal spatula spread cream cheese frosting (recipe below) on top of each cupcake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese and butter, on low speed, just until blended with no lumps. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth.  Beat in the vanilla extract.

Source: Adapted from Joy of Baking