Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

*UPDATED 3/29/10*


My uploaded picture! This is why you need cupcake carriers--so you don't go ghetto by putting a few in each tupperware and then have the foil smear the frosting all over!
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Recipe Song: Silence.

Thought I would try something new, and the silence was relaxing in its own right.

Continuing my crazy cooking Thursday, I made these absolutely delicious cupcakes on Friday for my mom's birthday. She absolutely loves carrot cake, so I thought it would be fun to make cupcakes for her and her coworkers.

This is actually a really simple recipe. From start to finish, it took me less than 2 hours, including baking, making the frosting, and clean up. In my book, that's fast. I know I'm definitely not the fastest baker/cook so adjust your prep and bake times accordingly. I bought pre-grated carrots just to make my life easier and then blended them in a blender to make them finer. I don't like eating carrot cake where little bits and strings of carrots come out when you bit into the cake. I did use walnuts as well and blended those into smaller pieces as well. When you don't have a food processor, the blender is a handy tool to have indeed.

Other changes I made to the recipe are as follows: I used Greek strained plain low fat yogurt as opposed to regular low fat yogurt, Fage to be specific. It's my favorite plain yogurt brand. I didn't taste the sourness at all in the end product, so I don't think it makes any difference. I actually made this recipe again on Monday and used a different brand of low fat plain yogurt and it tasted the same. I also primarily bake with salted butter and then don't add the additional salt the recipe calls for (one of my girlfriends, Annie, taught me that one).

For the frosting, I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and went crazy and did the 1/2 tsp cinnamon. The frosting is so good, I really could have just eaten it plain with no cupcakes. Finger-lickin', indeed. I tried to pipe my frosting out of my own makeshift sandwich bag turned piping bag but I miscalculated the hole I cut and it ended up too big. That was an interesting experience, lol.

The most important thing to pay attention to in this recipe is that it makes a perfect 12 cupcakes. I don't know why the recipe says it makes 18, but I, as well as many other of the commenters, had a different experience. But as I said, absolutely delicious! Huge hit. Happy eating!

5 out of 5 stars!
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Below from here:

Carrot Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Servings: 18
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour, Spooned And Leveled
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¾ teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
• ¾ cups (1 ½ Sticks) Unsalted Butter, Melted
• 1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• 1 whole Large Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Lowfat Plain Yogurt
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1-½ cup Grated Carrots (about 3 Or 4 Medium Carrots)
• ¼ cups Diced Walnuts (optional)
  
  Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
• 8 ounces, weight Organic Neufchatel Cheese, Room Temperature
• ¼ cups (1/2 Stick) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
• 1 cup Confectioners’ Sugar
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ¼ teaspoons Or 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

Preparation Instructions

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg; set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, egg, yogurt, and vanilla. Stir in carrots and walnuts (if using). Gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture until well combined. Divide among muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack in the pan for 5 minutes. Then remove from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, and confectioners’ sugar until smooth; beat in vanilla and cinnamon. Top each cupcake with 2 tablespoons of frosting and spread to cover. You can also pipe the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes.