Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

That's it. The search for the ultimate carrot cake recipe ends here. I can't imagine I'll ever want to make any other. No more leafing through cookbooks or trawling food blogs looking for the carrot cake that would define carrot cake for me. This is IT.  But I have mixed feelings about finding THE ONE.  In fact, when I realised this one was indeed THE ONE, I laughed, then I cried, then I ate another cupcake.



Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
from Smitten Kitchen
(quantities adapted to make 12 cupcakes, but once I'd tasted them I wished I'd made 24)
Or a *two layer 23cm cake - see instructions below
If you want to make 24 cupcakes, just use the quantities as for the layer cake
I hope that's all clear... now on with the cake making.


For the Cupcakes:
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup caster sugar
150ml canola oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated peeled carrots (I used the fine blade of a box grater to give a finer texture)

For the Frosting:
225g cream cheese, room temperature
75g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Make the Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line the holes of a 12-hole muffin pan with paper liners.

Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and oil and until well mixed. Whisk the eggs in one at a time.. Stir in the carrots and divide the batter among the muffin holes, filling each to 3/4 full.

Bake for 14-18 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool before icing them.

Make the Frosting:
Using an electric mixer, beat all the ingredients until fluffy. Refrigerate it until it is a spreadable consistency.

Assembly:
Using a medium star tip and a piping bag, pipe a small star in the middle of each cupcake then a circle of small stars around it.

Instructions for a Two layer 23cm Cake:


For the Cakes:
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cup caster sugar
310ml canola oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots

For the Frosting:
500g cream cheese, room temperature
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup tablespoons pure maple syrup

Make the Cakes:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line the bases of 2 x 23cm round cake tins with baking paper.

Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and oil and until well mixed. Whisk the eggs in one at a time.. Stir in the carrots and pour the batter evenly into the prepared cake tins.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let them cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool before icing them.

Make the Frosting:
Using an electric mixer, beat all the ingredients until fluffy. Refrigerate it until it is a spreadable consistency.

Assembly:
Spread some of the frosting generously on top of one cake. Place the other cake on top and frost the sides and top of the two layers. You can pipe smalls stars all over the top/sides of the cake as for the cupcakes if you like.