Happy Easter! - Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I can't stop baking! Even while on spring break in Florida, I had to bake for my wonderful hosts. I have been wanting to try carrot cake cupcakes, and being so close to Easter, it was a perfect choice. I looked at Southern Living for a few recipes, and ended up coming up with my own. I wanted to make something moist, on the semi-healthy side, and not too sweet. And I think I succeeded! The cupcakes turned out moist and not too sweet at all! Even the icing was not too sweet, even though I ended up with enough to frost nearly 3x the cupcakes I made. I used ideas from 2 recipes from Southern Living, which can be found here.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

*makes approx 16 cupcakes (or 12 cupcakes and some carrot cake bars-so good!)*


Ingredients:
2 cups AP flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

2 eggs and 2 egg whites

¼ cup applesauce

1/2 cup butter milk (made with 1% milk and lemon juice)

1 tsp vanilla

1 8oz can crushed pineapple, drained

2 1/2 cups grated carrot

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Combine flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside

2. Mix together eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. 

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture.

4. Fold in pineapples, carrots and coconut.

4. Pour batter into cupcake pan, and bake on 350 for 15-18 minutes.

5. Let cool completely.

While cupcakes are cooling, you can make the cream cheese frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

8 oz. fat free cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 TBSP of butter, softened

Coconut for sprinkling

1. Beat butter, cream cheese, and vanilla at medium speed until creamy. 

2. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency. 

3. Spread on cupcakes and sprinkle coconut over top.

A delicious spring treat that is not too sweet, and not too terrible on the waistline (unless you eat 3 cupcakes like I did!) The cake and frosting balance each other perfectly. The only thing I would change is to spray my cupcake liners with cooking spray because they stuck a lot to the liners. Otherwise, absolutely delicious!