Carrot Cupcakes

It was our friend's birthday on January 2nd, and we wanted to do something nice for her since she's always doing nice things for us. I found out from her husband that one of her favorite desserts is Carrot Cake. Since we were going to celebrate the night we played volleyball; I thought it would be a great idea to make these into cupcakes. I found this recipe from Simply Recipes and I thought it turned out great. My only gripe, and really I was the only one who noticed, was the abundance of cardamon in the cake. I think 2 teaspoons of cardamon is a bit much, so the next time I make these I will cut it back to just a teaspoon. Overall, the birthday girl really liked the cupcakes, and I think they were a big hit. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 1 pound of carrots
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk (or add a teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk and allow to stand for 10 minutes)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon of orange zest
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

First, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, and place the chopped walnuts onto a baking sheet. Put the walnuts in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. Next, rinse carrots and peel and grate. Set aside. Take out the bowl from your standing mixer and add the carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, vegetable oil, and orange zest. Whisk thoroughly. Take out a large bowl and add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and cinnamon. Gently stir the flour mixture into the carrot mixture. Be sure not to over-mix. Then, fold in the toasted chopped walnuts. Scoop the cupcake batter into your cupcake muffins using an ice cream scoop. It should make about 24 cupcakes. Place in your 350 degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cupcake) making sure you rotate the pans halfway thru the baking time. Allow cool in the muffin pan for about 5 minutes then remove the cupcakes and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:

To make the frosting; beat a cup of softened butter and 16 oz of softened cream cheese in your standing mixer until well combined. Sift in 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. I added a teaspoon of vanilla to give it a flavor boost. Spread onto cooled cupcakes.