Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but I have been busy/lazy. Two weeks ago I got engaged to my boyfriend of five years and since then it's been a whirlwind of activity. Not all of it has been related to the engagement, but it's definitely added some more craziness. (It's good though.)

My latest creation has been carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I made them for a work birthday party, so I needed them to be perfect. I've talked so much about loving to bake it would be a major disappointment if they were gross. So, that meant calling in the Test Kitchen once again. I found some other great recipes on Epicurious.com for carrot cake with ginger cream frosting and candied carrot curls, but it sounded a little adventurous for this crowd. I went with the basics.

Since it was to celebrate fall birthdays and one gal's birthday is on Halloween, I used some candy corn for the decoration on top (After Halloween price = $0.50...aw yeah). I think they turned out pretty dang good.


The hardest part about this was whisking everything by hand. But I do what the Test Kitchen tells me to--at least the first time around. Emulsifying the oil into the sugars and eggs had to be the hardest part, but it was definitely worth it. All I can say, though, is thank goodness for my Cuisinart. I don't know how I used to grate all that carrot by hand!