Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Recipe from: Erica Sweet Tooth

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1-1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

12 oz carrots, peeled. (Or 1lb if you like more carrots in your cake!)

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups canola or vegetable oil

For the cream cheese frosting:

12 oz cream cheese, cold

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

Shredded coconut, if desired

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line muffin pan with liners.

- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.

- In a food processor fitted with a shredding disk (I broke out mine for the first time, it's awesomeeeee) and shred the carrots. Transfer the carrots to the bowl with the dry ingredients and set aside.

- Rinse out the bowl of the food processor and fit with the metal blade.

- Process the sugars and eggs until frothy and combined, about 20 seconds. With the machine running, add the oil into the feed tube and continue to process until mixture is light in color and combined.

- Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the carrots and dry ingredients until completely incorporated.

- Divide the batter among muffin cups and bake 20-24 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

- Cool cupcakes in muffin pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

- For the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and gradually add the powdered sugar until well-combined. Beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.

- Load frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and decorate as desired.

- For the coconut topping, add coconut to a dry saucepan over medium heat and stir until coconut is fragrant and slightly browned. Keep an eye on it because it can burn quickly!

Recipe yields 24 cupcakes.