Carrot-Apple Cake ....made into Cupcakes As promised, I am now sharing the carrot cupcakes I made some time ago...around the same time I made the coconut cupcakes. If you remember, I didn't use all the frosting from the coconut cupcakes and decided to make some carrot-apple cupcakes to finish up the rest of the frosting. The recipe I am posting is actually a recipe for a traditional carrot cake... made in cake pans. But I figured I could turn the carrot cake into cupcakes....and that's exactly what I did. Since I only had a bit of frosting to use up, I decided to just halve the recipe. It worked just fine.
The original recipe is actually from a small Country Living pamphlet I acquired when I was young. The little booklet contained about 10 other recipes. Interestingly enough, I still have the pamphlet today... all smudgy from years of usage:).This particular recipe has been with me since I was a teenager, if you can believe that! But it was the the photo of the carrot cake, that caught my attention at the time. It looked so delicious, that I decided to make the cake....and my family loved it. Maybe we loved it because it was a new cake recipe... a cake we hadn't tried before. The idea of mixing in grated vegetables in a sweet cake was new to me then...maybe I thought it was really healthy:). But for whatever reason, we all rather liked it. The ingredients in the recipe were often staples in our home. We usually had apples, carrots, nuts and golden raisins. That's right... even the golden raisins. You wouldn't think that we would have the golden raisins, but somehow my mom would always buy them from an Armenian market...they happened to be quite affordable at the time. Even the nuts were cheaper then. Anyway, this recipe I ended up keeping...and making it from time to time. Now, here I am, sharing it with you:)...
I know most carrot cake recipes use pineapple. It is one of the reasons that I tend to make this apple version, just because I don't always have pineapple around the house. Apples are always abundant in our house. I happen to just LOVE apples... any apple will do, really:) Ok, maybe not the mealy kind:).
I usually make this recipe in a sheet pan. I cut the cake in two, spread cream cheese frosting on one cake piece, top it with the second cake layer, spread a second layer of frosting and then sprinkle some chopped nuts. I then like to cut the cake in rectangular shapes( like long bars) and place them in muffin liners...they sort of look all fancy that way. But, for this post I made them into cupcakes. Feel free to make what suits you. Hope you enjoy....
You will need: this makes 2( 9 inch) round cake pans (or 13x9 or so)...or close to 24 cupcakes...baking time varies.
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt( I only use a pinch)
2 tsps cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup apple, chopped and peeled
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
Combine sugar, oil,eggs and vanilla in large mixer bowl. 
Beat till smooth. Stir in shredded carrots, apple, raisins and pecans.
Mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time to the carrot mixture.
Mix well after each addition. Pour batter into greased and floured( or parchment lined) pans/muffin tins.
Bake in a preheated 350 deg oven until wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean...about 30-40 minutes(18-25 minutes for cupcakes) Check as all ovens are different.
Remove from pans and cool completely.
Decorate with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/3 cup butter, room temp( I tend to skip this...)
2 cups powdered sugar( taste and adjust amount to your liking)
1 tsp vanilla( or almond, orange, etc...)
a pinch of salt
Beat cream cheese, butter vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually until smooth.
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