Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

OK, guys. Let’s talk carrot cake. In the cupcake form (my favorite!).

Carrot cake is a crowd pleaser, and you can serve it any time of the year. I usually associate it with the fall because of addition of cinnamon and ginger in the batter remind me of cool fall days. However, these would be great at Easter – everyone knows the Easter Bunny loves carrots. Right? Right.  Also, I made these cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese frosting to add bit more depth of flavor.

The key to a good carrot cake is shredding your carrots finely. I would recommend shredding the carrots by hand. It adds some time to the baking process, but it is totally worth it. If you use a food processor, you will end up with bigger chunks and less moisture in the batter. The more finely shredded your carrots, the more moist your cake!

I chose to add one of my favorite mix-ins, cinnamon chips, to these cupcakes. The cinnamon chips give the cake an extra layer of sweet spice flavor and add a nice crunch with each bite. You certainly don’t need to add cinnamon chips to the recipe if you don’t want to or cannot find them at your grocery store.

So, let’s do this thing!

Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

(adapted from the Smitten Kitchen)

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups canola oil

4 large eggs

3 cups grated peeled carrots

1 cup cinnamon chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line 24 cupcake molds with papers

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots and cinnamon chips, if using them. Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each.

Bake cupcakes 14 to 18 minutesor until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in pans for five minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before icing them.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Directions

In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy and of desired consistency

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes. Let me know what you think!