Carrot Cupcakes for the Easter Bunny

How was everyone's Easter?  I bet everyone enjoyed a little time off from their hectic lives.  I know I sure did!  Working in retail, the only days that the mall closes are Christmas and Easter.  So you can only imagine how ecstatic I was to get my first Sunday off in...FOREVER!


Can you guess what I did on my down time?  Here's a hint: I only did what every other aspiring baker would do on their time off -- bake!  Now can you guess what I made?  Another hint: what comes to mind when you think of bunnies?  If your guess was carrots, you get a golden star!


Since most people associate Easter with painted-cover eggs, chocolate, and the Easter bunny, how fitting it would be to make carrot cupcakes for such a holiday!  So that's what I made: Carrot cupcakes with chunky cream cheese frosting.

To begin, here's what you're gonna need:
- 4 eggs
- About 2 cups of sugar (depending how sweet you want your cupcakes)
- 1 cup canola oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups grated carrots (about 2-3 sticks of carrot)


First off, line your muffin pans, preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and grate your carrots.  Grating the carrots is gonna take a while, and your arm is gonna be tired.  But it's best to do this first so your mixtures won't be sitting out.  Now beat the eggs, sugar, and oil together in a large bowl.  
Next, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, allspice, and salt.  Now I recommend combining these dry ingredients in a gallon zip lock bag.  Why?  First, it saves cleaning dishes; two, it's so much cleaner and easier to pour it into the wet mixture later.
Now you can gradually add your dry mixture to your wet mixture.  Once that's all incorporated in, you can then STIR in the carrots.


Fill your muffin cups 2/3 full.  Trust me when I say 2/3!  If you fill it just under the rim, your cupcakes are gonna look like mushrooms -- though cute, the edge of the cupcake paper is gonna get stuck underneath the muffin tops which would make it difficult to peel.  Bake it for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  If you're making mini cupcakes, it should take no longer than 20 minutes, depending on your oven.  If you're making regular-sized cupcakes, 25 minutes should be just right.  But a baker's rule of thumb is to always check your goodies at the least amount of time stated.  It's better to stick it back in the oven than to have burnt treats.
Cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to wire racks.


And now for the frosting:


Now the secret to making these tasty treats so tasty is in the cream cheese frosting.  I don't know about you, but I think buttermilk frosting destroys perfectly great desserts.  It's way too thick, too sweet, and too boring!  If your dessert is already sweet, why not mix it up a bit and balance the sweetness with something a bit more tart?  Wouldn't you agree?


Anyhoo, I spiced up the cream cheese recipe a bit my adding chopped pecans, raisins, and a touch of coconut flakes for texture.


What you'll need:

- 1 package 8oz soft cream cheese

- 1/4 cup of softened butter (1/2 a stick)

- 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

- 1/4 cup flaked coconut

- 1/2 cup chopped pecans

- 1/2 cup chopped raisins

In a large bowl, beat (with a handheld or with a flat beater) cream cheese and butter until it's fluffy and not so thick.  Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until it's smooth and fully incorporated.  WARNING: start off with a lower setting then to a higher setting.  If you beat the mixture with a high setting right off the bat, you'll get powdered sugar in your face and all over your countertops.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  Moving on, Stir in the coconut, pecans, and raisins.

If you're ready to devour them, frost your cupcakes and store them in the refrigerator for no more than two days.  Any longer and you might dry out your cupcakes.  But if you're not ready to eat them quite just yet, or saving it for your Royal wedding party, store the frosting in the fridge, and store your cupcakes in a tupperware in room temperature.  But my advice is to hold off eating your cupcakes right away.  The frosting tastes and holds much better when cold.  Especially if you over beat your frosting and it looks a tad runny, it will take hold once you throw it in the fridge.