This morning I stood under a blossoming orange tree that hummed with honey bees. I found my way under this tree after a walk through my neighborhood on one of those mornings that couldn’t decide if it wanted to laugh or cry.
The sidewalk showed evidence of midnight rain. The smell of rain on asphault… ooh so perfectly dreamy. The sky, bright blue with clusters of pure white and angry grey clouds.
The air was just cold enough to chill me through my sweater and carried the scent of orange blossoms nearly a block. That’s the scene that lead me, arms hugging my chest, to the bee humming orange tree, live with blossoms and heavy with fruit.
The scene screamed of Spring.
Standing there under that tree, it felt like life was just bursting out into the world. What a pure expression of life and beauty that tree was this morning.
Happy Spring.
Have some life… enjoy it!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes are a spring classic. Right? I paired mine with Dulce de Leche Buttercream, but feel free to groove on with a classic Cream Cheese Frosting. These beauties are unadulterated carrot yum, the kind of treat you might find at a church bake sale…. like, the best church bake sale ever!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart
makes about 28 cupcakes
- 4 cups peeled and finely grated carrots
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together carrots, eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla seeds, and coconut, pineapple and nuts if desired. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.
- Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until testers inserted into centers come out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks, 10 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto wire racks, and let cool completely. Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen for up to 2 months in airtight containers.
- Frost cupcakes with dulce de leche or cream cheese frosting. Frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature, and sprinkle with toasted coconut (press gently to adhere) before serving.
Dulce de Leche Buttercream Frosting
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dulce de leche…oh my. how i love dulce de leche! i can’t wait to try the even more delicious sounding dulce de leche BUTTERCREAM. how fantastic.
I am in love!! I make realy healthy carrot muffins for the kids and I am a huge, actually obsess, with dulce de leche
Oh my stars! Those cupcakes look scrumptious! YUM!!!
oooo, i haven’t made anything with dulce de leche for a long time. thanks for inspiration!
I made these with the cream cheese frosting the day that you posted them. They were wonderful, and I will make them again and again. My coworkers thank you!
That is my favorite dulce de leche, and I stock up every time I go to Buenos Aires. I’d put it on anything.
Oh man that buttercream sounds delicious! I could eat that out of a bowl.
These look DELISH! Note to self – must try!
I just made this recipe as a 3 layer cake with the dulce de leche buttercream as a filling, then frosting w/the brown sugar cream cheese. I swear, dulce de leche and carrot cake was a match made in heaven: thank you so much for suggesting it. And the brown sugar in the cream cheese took away that silly “bite” that tends to divide the cake into “cake versus frosting.” Oh, and I used a pinch of cardamom in the cake as well and it was delicious.
And I found organic confectioner’s sugar – at Walmart, of all places – and I think it is a big step above Domino, btw.
I’m making these tomorrow for Easter! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
oh man… i think i need these in my life.
Happy Spring! I am just drooling over these cupcakes. So gorgeous and delicious-sounding! :)
Hello!
I wonder- could you add the dulce de leche to cream cheese frosting?
Thanks for the great recipe! I make the cupcakes and iced with a citris cream cheese icing. Everyone loved them!
I made the dulce de leche buttercream to frost Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes. It was really sweet but went well with the cupcakes, which were very dark and had a pleasant bitter edge to them. The recipe made lots of frosting.. I had about 3/4 cup leftover after frosting 24 cupcakes. And I frosted very generously!
If I were making sweeter cupcakes or cupcakes with a milder flavor in general, I might cut down on the powdered sugar called for in the buttercream. The dulce de leche already makes it very sweet.
Do you have to use he crushed pineapple and coconut? Will it taste as good without them? And do any of the other ingredient amounts alter if you take these things out?
I was saving this recipe for my boyfriend’s birthday back in December. I wish I wouldn’t have waited… these were so wonderful. Oh man, they were awesome! I’m sure I’ll have to make these for his birthday every year now. Thanks, a lot (said in a sarcastic tone). No, really, thank you (said in a very sincere and slightly teary-eyed tone).
I’m in LOVE! Where have you been all my life?!
I made these cupcakes tonight and they were lovely! I used 2 cups sugar and 3/4 cups honey but the rest stayed true to the recipe and these were amazing. The smell while they were baking was alone tempting… Thank you so much for this great treat!
These look so perfect for the sun finally coming out! Just wondering, which Martha Stewart cookbook did this come from?
I made these yesterday to freeze for Easter… Mmmmmm… Quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.
I just made these for Easter, and my teenager has declared them “the best cupcakes I’ve ever had.” I had a little trouble pouring 1.5 cups of oil into the batter, which is why I don’t bake.
The dulce de leche is easy to make, and a little fun, too. I’m told it is great in a banana cake, and the next time I feel like baking I’m going to try that. (I made three cans.)
the best carrot cake ever!!!
I just adapted and made these cupcakes (with an adapted version of the cream cheese frosting, as well) for a friend’s birthday. I can’t make or eat things with sugar (and I also try to make everything healthier), so the recipe is fairly heavily adapted but still insanely delicious! Thank you, Joy, for being such an inspiration. Of course, I credited and linked to you. Check it out here: http://kaitlinwithhoney.com/2010/07/16/carrot-cake-cupcakes-kwhified/
Hey Joy, just a quick THANKS for the yummilicious recipe! I used it for a double-layer cake to celebrate DHs birthday. It worked wonderfully with a lemony cream cheese frosting. You rock! If I had a $100 to replace what Butter ate, I’d send it your way. But I don’t. Still, it’s the thought that counts, and that recipe would be totally worth it!
Joy!!! Just made these for my daughter, Harlow’s, 1st birthday party….AMAZING!!!! :) She doesn’t care for many sweet things but LOVES vegetables, so I thought these would be pleasing to her and her party guests. They absolutely were! Harlow loved her cupcake (minus the frosting), but everyone else raved about them all afternoon. Yet another hit from Joy the Baker. Can’t say enough about your recipes and blog.
XOXO,
Kim
Hi Joy — I’ve been following and loving your blog for close to half a year now. Besides adjusting the bake-time, do I need to do anything to adapt this recipe for a cake instead of cupcakes?
I just made this as a cake, didn’t adjust anything, and it turned out swimmingly.
My mom and i made the buttercream frosting for our carrot cake because we didnt have cream cheese. HOLY CRAP. THAT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Instead of coconut I lightly sprinkled them with sea salt. It was amazeballs….!
I’m bring them into to work for a holiday party. I will be super popular.
Thanks Joy
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