My friend Lily is moving away so I had to send her off with a treat. I love mini cupcakes and I love giving mini cupcakes. So, I decided on an apple/carrot spice flavor but you can't taste the apple so I'm calling them Carrot Spice Cupcakes. I am so impressed with this recipe, as a first try. I would only change one thing, remove the nuts. The texture of the cupcakes is so light and tender that the crunch of nuts seems not to fit in. I will definitely be making these again (sans nuts).
Mini Carrot Spice Cupcakes
~makes about 40 mini cupcakes
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cups white sugar
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup packed shredded apple
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (chop smaller than usual)
2. Beat eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Mix in the oil and vanilla, until completely blended. Mix in carrots and pineapple.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until even. Do not over mix. Fold in walnuts.
4. Spoon into prepared muffin pan and bake for 12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before un-molding. Cool completely before frosting.
These cupcakes are so good on their own. I couldn't stop eating them. I did add a cream cheese frosting (half the recipe will frost about 30 mini cupcakes), more for the look, to give to Lily, because a cupcake just doesn't look complete without the little frosting hat.
Bye Lily, hope to eat with you again soon!
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Stumble6 Responses to "Mini Carrot Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting"
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TroyBoy said:
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I love Carrot Cake - are these similar to Carrot Cake? 2nd question - what substitutions can you offer to make them lower in fat and higher in fiber? 3rd question - totally unrelated - what can you tell me about buying, storing, and cooking with lemon grass? You're a foodie. You love Asian food. I figure that you're a good source. So spill it. :-) |
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Jessica said:
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These are similar to carrot cake and you can experiment with adding wheat germ for fiber and cutting back a bit on oil. Personally, I would rather eat them without frosting, instead of changing the recipe. |
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Kasi&Stephen said:
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How about adding some ground flaxseed? |
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Jessica said:
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Cooking/Baking flaxseed may destroy or alter the Omega fatty acids. There are mixed reports on this.....so Lon and I stick with flaxseed oil (kept in our fridge) that we drizzle on to salad. |
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wildlili said:
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OMG! these little cupcakes a like little bites of heaven! we brought them over to karaoke with us, and couldn't stop eating them! (which made it tough to sing!) i'm also surprised to read that there were apples in them, bc as you mentioned, you can't taste it... but it sure makes me feel healthier ;-) even without the frosting, these cupcakes are delish! |
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Jessica said:
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Thanks Lily! Now you can start baking in your big new kitchen! |