Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Total Time
45 minutes
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Rating
5 out of 5 stars
(63)
Ingredients
12 servings
- 440g / 14 oz (1 can) crushed pineapple in juice (, drained but RESERVE juice (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup milk (, at room temperature (full fat best, low fat ok)
- 1/2 tsp white vinegar (or lemon juice or other clear vinegar, (Note 2)
- 2 large eggs (, at room temperature)
- 1 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- 1 1/3 cups flour (, plain / all-purpose)
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda (aka bicarb soda, Note 3) (NOT BAKING POWDER!)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 1/3 cups shredded carrot (, 1 medium carrot peeled (Note 4)
- 2 tbsp coconut (, shredded or desiccated (unsweetened)
- 1/3 cup walnuts or pecans (, roughly chopped (ie. measure after chopping)
- 180g / 6oz cream cheese (, at room temperature (Note 5)
- 90g / 6 tbsp unsalted butter (, softened (17°C/62°F)
- 3 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar (, sifted (Note 6)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup walnuts or pecans (, moderately finely chopped)
How would you rate this recipe?
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Step 2
Canned pineapple: Drain crushed pineapple well, reserving the juice. Measure out 3/4 cup pineapple and 2 tbsp pineapple juice.
Step 3
Whisk Dry Ingredients: Whisk Dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Step 4
Whisk Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, vinegar, eggs, sugar, oil and the 2 tbsp pineapple juice from Step 2.
Step 5
Add-ins: Stir in carrot, crushed pineapple, coconut and pecans into the Wet ingredients bowl.
Step 6
Combine Wet & Dry: Pour Wet into Dry ingredients, stir only until flour is no longer visible. Batter will be lumpy (from the stir-ins) and thick, but runny.
Step 7
Fill muffin tin: Divide batter between 12 holes. (A 3-tbsp levered ice cream scoop makes life super-easy here.)
Step 8
Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and fully cool before frosting.
Step 9
Cream Cheese Frosting
Step 10
Cream butter: Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer (or whisk attachments for hand mixer), beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.
Step 11
Cream cheese: Add cream cheese then beat for 1 minute until smooth.
Step 12
Icing sugar: Add 1/3 of the icing sugar, then starting on the lowest speed (to avoid a powdery explosion!), beat until mostly incorporated. Add half the remaining icing sugar, beat it in, then the remaining icing sugar.
Step 13
Fluff it! Beat on high for 2 minutes until fluffy. Add vanilla and salt, beat briefly to incorporate.
Step 14
Pipe: Transfer to piping bag fitted with a round tip (or ziplock bag with snipper corner). Pipe on to cupcake, sprinkle with chopped walnuts or pecans if desired.
Step 15
Save recipe for the next time?
