Anyone else have those freak out moments the day before a party, worried you don’t have enough food – then proceed to make more? Like enough to feed 4x the guests you have? Just me…? That’s how these carrot cake cupcakes ended up on our spread for E’s “Somebunny is One” birthday party. I frantically raced to the store the day before, worried that the TWO CAKES I already had made wouldn’t be enough (crazytown, I know). And how can you have a bunny-themed birthday without carrot cake??
They turned out perfect. Moist, dense, with just enough carrot flavor and a buttery sweet cream cheese frosting. I couldn’t be happier with these carrot cake cupcakes. Thankfully there were a few left over at the end of the party (because there was so. much. food!) so I got to enjoy one after clean up was done. It was the perfect way to cap off the festivities!
I used this carrot cake cupcake recipe from Pinch of Yum and this cream cheese icing recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I didn’t add nuts to my batter but you certainly could!
A few tips for making these recipes:
- Use a food processor or grating attachment for a stand mixer (we opted for the latter) to grate your carrots. You want them thin, but not pulverized.
- Squeeze the liquid out of the carrots really well before adding to the batter. Too much juice will make them taste a little too carrot-heavy, and will take forever to bake.
- Use muffin liners. We didn’t on the minis and could only get half out of the pan without breaking them. They’re super moist!
- Pipe on the frosting on your cupcakes. Using a knife can cause cake crumbles to pull up as you ice them, unless you freeze them first. We just used a ziplock with the end cut off – nothing fancy! Refrigerate the frosting for 20-30 minutes before piping to get the right consistency.
Now I just need to find another excuse to make these carrot cake cupcakes again. Who has a birthday coming up??
Want more party planning ideas?
Check out our other birthday party ideas, including everything you need to know to master sugar cookies and this post about how to make white chocolate bunny bark. Or, follow our birthday ideas Pinterest board below.
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