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 asphalt… 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
Holly Grayhart
Hi, I was just wondering what size tin to use for the double layer cake?
Thanks!!!
joythebaker
8″ or 9″ pan
Veronica
I’m allergic to nuts; is there any way I could leave them out or use some more coconut as a substitute?
Lauren
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
Myra
My mom and i made the buttercream frosting for our carrot cake because we didnt have cream cheese. HOLY CRAP. THAT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elizabeth
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?
Miranda D
I just made this as a cake, didn’t adjust anything, and it turned out swimmingly.
Kimberly
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
Jen D
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!
Kaitlin With Honey
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/
Marissa
the best carrot cake ever!!!
Karen
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.)
Melanie
I made these yesterday to freeze for Easter… Mmmmmm… Quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.
Claire
These look so perfect for the sun finally coming out! Just wondering, which Martha Stewart cookbook did this come from?
Georgia N.
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!
Peaches
I’m in LOVE! Where have you been all my life?!
Tigli
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).
Suki
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?
Niki
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.
Rebecca
Thanks for the great recipe! I make the cupcakes and iced with a citris cream cheese icing. Everyone loved them!
Nakiya
Hello!
I wonder- could you add the dulce de leche to cream cheese frosting?
Kristen
Happy Spring! I am just drooling over these cupcakes. So gorgeous and delicious-sounding! :)
kelly
oh man… i think i need these in my life.
chanel
I’m making these tomorrow for Easter! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Shawna
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.
ButterYum
These look DELISH! Note to self – must try!
Marc @ NoRecipes
Oh man that buttercream sounds delicious! I could eat that out of a bowl.
Brittany (He Cooks She Cooks)
That is my favorite dulce de leche, and I stock up every time I go to Buenos Aires. I’d put it on anything.
lara
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!
Gigi
oooo, i haven’t made anything with dulce de leche for a long time. thanks for inspiration!
marianne
Oh my stars! Those cupcakes look scrumptious! YUM!!!
Savor
I am in love!! I make realy healthy carrot muffins for the kids and I am a huge, actually obsess, with dulce de leche
Jackie
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.
Mama JJ
Judy, Thanks for sharing your innovative technique!
redmenace
I LOVE carrot cake. These look amazing! So delicious!
Nicole
What a sweet post. I totally saw you ambling along. And the carrot cupcakes… So yummy! Love dulce de leche yet have never used it myself. I wonder if they carry it at the regular supermarkets around here??
CookiePie
Just when I thought there was no way to make carrot cupcakes even yummier — dulce de leche buttercream! How fabulous!
judy
Thought I would share a recipe that my friend aka “the amazing baker” gave me. Enjoy!
Dulce de Leche (“Candy from Milk”):
Sweetened Condensed Milk (Eagle Brand truly does work best for this!), unopened, label removed
Place unopened can(s) on side in deep, heavy pan. COMPLETELY cover can(s) with water and place over low heat. Bring to simmer, but DO NOT BOIL, and cook for five to seven hours to achieve desired consistency. Check water level hourly to ensure can remains completely submerged throughout cooking time. Consistency at five hours will be creamy and somewhat fluid with a lightly caramel flavoring, but will thicken to near candy consistency and have a more intense nearly butterscotch flavor at approximately seven hours.
june
Dulche de leche buttercream? Does life get any better than that? I may have to make it and have it on my English muffin tomorrow morning while I listen to the red-winged blackbirds singing their warm weather song!
zurin
wish we had spring so we cld have orange blossom trees here and less heat and humidity and sweat so that I cld wakl around and write what you wrote…:) love the cupcake and what you wrote……………
Christy
Happy Spring to you! I, too, love this season. Just to hear the birds singing again and to feel a crisp breeze seems to breathe new energy into my winter weary soul. :) Your cupcakes look amazing and I love the idea of a different variation on the icing. Mmmm!
Sara
Oh my goodness, Joy, these look amazing! I love, love, love carrot cake. Ooh, maybe I’ll try these out this weekend…(ideas brewing)…
MsGourmet
Stunning cupcakes!
Jodye
What beautiful cupcakes! Straying away from the usual cream cheese frosting is a wonderful idea, they look delicious
Iisha
These look amazing, and your message at the end of the post was great too. We have to remember… we really do!
Rootbeer Racinette
What a lovely description of the arrival of Spring! Unfortunately, here in the northeast, it’s still very much touch and go! But there’s always dulce de leche!
lyndsay
hi joy! i just found you through cakespy.
holy goodness, i scrolled all the way down to the bottom and took in all of your scrumptious looking foodstuffs. actually felt my mouth salivate. your photos are gorgeous and your writing is hilarious and personable!!! really wonderful blog and great looking food!
:)
shez
i love how dreamy your writing is… and the thought of pairing fragrant carrotty, coconutty cakes with a salty sweet icing is just brilliant. beats cream cheese frosting any day :)
Isabelle
Oh yum! These look too delicious for words. Thanks for sharing.
It’s still a bit too chilly where I am to believe it’s spring yet, but it won’t be long… why just this morning, two of my crocuses decided to they were ready to greet the world. :)
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
Oh my, these are pure bliss and what a way to welcome in Spring!
StuffCooksWant
What a beautiful day for a walk….I’ll bet the orange blossoms smelled amazing and fresh and perfect.
The recipe looks fantastic and frankly, when I scrolled down to the dulce de leche caramel, that was it for me. Will make these soon.
Half Assed Kitchen
These look amazing! Amazing.
grapefruit
Oh my ! I can’t wait to make these!
For all those who want to know how to make Dulce de Leche, here’s a super easy recipe:
Ingredients:
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
aluminum foil
Directions
Pour 1 can condensed milk into 9 inch pie pan (though I use a disposable foil pan which is probbly 8 inches).
Cover with aluminum foil.
Put in large pan or a roasting pan
Fill pan with boiling water.
Bake at 425°F for 1 hour or until thick and caramel colored.
Beat until smooth.
Refrigerate, covered, when not in use.
I have made dulce de leche with this recipe a gazillion times and it stays good in the fridge for long, long time.
Good luck!
Mama JJ
Do you ever make your own Dulce de Leche? I read on D. Lebovitz’s site that it’s just baked/reduced sweetened condensed milk. He uses it in ice cream, of course. In any case, it sounds like a good idea—-one that I maybe want to try soon (after hummus and roast chicken and granola—the things on my list to cook today).
Oh yes, and three giant cheers for spring. My asparagus is up (!!!!!) and the kids play outside barefoot (even though it’s only 50 degrees).
carsen
:) I’d like one of these when I get home, please! What about that banana cupcake recipe from 2 birthdays ago with the dulce frosting? That sounds delicious too.. I think I just want a cupcake. I haven’t seen any cupcakes in France. I’ll keep looking..
My Sweet & Saucy
These sound delicious! Love the flavor combo!
Margie
Poetic embrace. I think that is the real title…forget those lovely cupcakes and go back to the sidewalk, the rain and those orange blossoms.
You are such a talent!!!!!
kickpleat
Oooh, it’s been ages since I’ve had carrot cake and those cupcakes look amazing!
Katie
I didn’t think Carrot Cake could get better but Dulce De Leche Buttercream c’mon now. Why must you tease me like this, I can’t wait to try to make these.
unconfidentialcook
Dulce de Leche Buttercream…How great is that?!?
Michelle
Oh my! Those look great! I only wish I had blossoming orange trees….heck I’d settle for blossoming anything right now. I’ve barely got buds on my lilacs!
Thanks for sharing!!
snooky doodle
oh you made me dream with your description of spring :) These cupcakes looks delicious. I like the variation with dulche de leche :)
AllisonMN
I LOVE carrot cake anything!
annette
You are my new best friend!! Carrot cupcakes with dulce de leche sounds like a perfect diet breaker.
I have a lot to catch up on…all the other recipes sound marvelously dreamy! Thx!
The Duo Dishes
This just makes you smile!
Mercy
What a lovely thing to find on a walk<3 I know it’s spring because the flowerpots on my windowsill are showing signs of life :)
I’ve always been a little scared of baking carrot cake- all the carrot cake I’ve ever had has been so delicious, how could I measure up to that? But I’m going to give these a try :)
Dallas from Bitchin' Lifestyle
I love that first day when you can smell actual plants and, better yet, flowers. Montreal is slowly on its way to spring too :)
What an awesomely creative move to do dulce de leche frosting! Until recently, I had only had cream cheese frosting on carrot cake. A while ago, I tried making irish cream frosting and it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
I blogged about it here: http://bitchinlifestyle.tv/Articles/Bitchin-Kitchen/Articles/Baking-with-Booze.html
Dani
sounds like a beautiful morning, and looks like an even better treat :)
Culinary Wannabe
I am a major fan of the classic carrot cake and cream cheese frosting combo. But I think I could probably just eat this dulce de leche frosting by itself!
Elle
Oh my. I want these right now! I think they would be enough to make me forget that it’s cold and rainy today…
Teri
I think carrot cake is my favorite of all! I made a carrot sheet cake this weekend. Wish mine looked as good as yours!
trishybee
I am so excited to see these! I’ll be using this recipe for a bunny cake I’ll be making for Easter. I’d love to try the dulce de leche frosting – but I’m making it for cream cheese frosting purists (I’ve already been told!)
anna
Ooh, I’ve never had carrot cake with anything but cream cheese frosting. Dulce de leche is a great idea!
noble pig
This sounds like an amazing combination…dlche de leche is just…well…yum.
Amanda
You uttered the magic words: dulce de leche frosting. Bring it on baby!!
Bridgett
Oh, how I love carrot cake! But I am the only one in the house who does. And eating an entire cake by myself (although that sounds quite yummy) is never a good idea! Thanks for posting the cupcake version. The icing sounds divine!
I just learned why/how there are different kinds of honey. Quite interesting!
Jim
Joy, I love Spring and I love carrot cake! Where on earth did you find the dulce de leche you have pictured? I would love to be able to purchase some for this recipe. Keep up the delicious recipes.
Alexandra
This looks so great! I’m really getting in to the whole cupcake movement and these look delicious! I have started a blog and I was wondering how, and if you advertise?
Amy
Oh no its so cold out today in New York! Wish I was there…
Kate
I’m jealous; I want spring, too! No bees yet, just sleepy gross flies. Ahh, March.
Beck
Gorgeous Joy! The perfect thing for me to bake for tomorrow night celebratory drinks for my half Aussie, half Argentinian, 1 week old niece Abby. Thanks for the inspiration. Love the image you created of the orange tree and bees too…
kitty
Joy, have I mentioned lately that you always make me smile? These cakes sound great, although dulce de leche is hard to get in Oz. More South Americans moving in is changing that a bit. God bless immigration.
Elyse
Happy Spring! These cupcakes look like a perfect way to celebrate the season, and that dulce de leche buttercream looks totally killer. Man, I might not be so cold in my heater-less apartment right now (yeah, in reality, it’s probably only like 50 outside, but I’m always cold) if I had one of these springy, sunshiny cupcakes!