Carrot Cupcakes

I got the idea late one night this week to make carrot cupcakes. I started browsing online for recipes with my main criteria being a recipe that I could easily divide in half. Typically, a recipe will yield 24 standard cupcakes but that many cupcakes means nothing but trouble in my house. Twelve is a much more manageable number. Theoretically, I could save 6 for us and share the rest with my neighbors....theoretically.... I though this recipe from All Recipes sounded perfect. It could easily be divided in half and it had very high ratings.

Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with how these turned out. The cake didn't rise nicely and was a bit too crumbly. Also, I found it to be slightly oily. I wasn't even going to blog about these but I think this recipe has a lot of potential with a little tweaking. For example, if I swapped half of the oil for applesauce it might have a better texture, be less oily and healthier too. There are other ideas for improving this recipe under the reviews in Allrecipes. I think the fact that it has such a high rating makes it worth giving this recipe a second look.

Another reason why I had to share these...the little fondant carrots I made. They were both easy and fun to do!

While the cupcakes were only OK, the cream cheese frosting was quite yummy....plus, frosting covers a multitude of sins.

Even though these weren't our favorite cupcakes, we happily ate our share :)

Ingredients
(yields 24 cupcakes)

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.

Source: Allrecipes.com