Carrot Cupcakes with Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

It isn't a baking experience in my kitchen without something going absurdly wrong... Tonight: I made the mistake of putting carrot peels and burnt coconut down the garbage disposal. That was a "fun" 45 minutes of cleaning. Ick!! Overall, I think the recipe went well. I found the recipe here, which is the same blog as the Guinness & Chocolate Cupcake with Bailey's Irish Cream Cheese Frosting is from (that recipe has not been made yet).

Cupcakes

Information:

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Makes: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

¾ pound carrots, peeled and finely grated
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
4 large eggs

½ C brown sugar
¾ C granulated sugar

½ C unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ C canola oil
2 C unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
⅛ tsp allspice

Directions:

1.   Preheat the oven to 350°.

2.   Mix the carrots and pineapple in a large bowl and set aside; Mix dry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in a large bowl and set aside.

3.   Mix eggs and both sugars.

4.   Melt the butter (on stove top or in microwave for 2 minutes at 30-second intervals).

5.   Drizzle the butter and oil into the egg/sugar mixture.

6.   Slowly mix in the flour mixture with the egg/sugar mixture.

7.   Slowly add the carrot/pineapple mixture with the batter.

8.   Pour (or spoon) batter into 24 cupcake papers to ½ or ¾ full.

9.   Bake for 27 minutes.

10. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting.

I made a double batch of frosting so I could be generous on the cupcakes

Frosting

Information:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Makes: a lot

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz unsalted butter
5 C powdered sugar, sifted
6 tbsp dark rum (use 3-4 tbsp for “a hint of rum” taste)

Directions:

1.   Let the cream cheese come to room temperature.

2.   Whip the cream cheese with 2 cups of the sugar.

3.   Melt the butter on the stove. When bubbles start to form, pour the hot butter into a small, ice-cold bowl sitting in another bowl with ice under the smaller bowl.

4.   Drizzle the cooler butter into the cheese/sugar mixture and blend.

5.   Mix in the remaining sugar.

6.   Mix in the rum.

7.   Whip the mixture until it’s light and fluffy.

Topping

Information:

Prep Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 5-10 minutes

Makes: 1 lb of toasted coconut (way more than needed, but the rest can be frozen for a later use)

Ingredients:

1 lb package of sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions:

1.   Preheat the oven to 350°.

2.   Lay out coconut on a metal pan.

3.   Cook coconut for 5-10 minutes, stirring the coconut, until the edges are brown.

Frost the cupcakes and top with coconut to your liking.

I think I’ll deliver these cupcakes to the management of our apartment complex to thank them for everything they do. Also, I want to take some to my husband’s grandma because we haven’t seen her in a while, and I absolutely love her! She’s a wonderful woman, and I know she will appreciate homemade carrot cake cupcakes!