Carrot Cake Cupcakes

When I was a kid, my mom made carrot cake for special occasions. One year, for an end-of-the-year party with my little brother's tennis team, she decorated the whole thing with frosting tennis balls. Her recipe comes from the Frog and Commissary cookbook, which came from a restaurant in Philadelphia that she used to eat at in college. When I started collecting cookbooks, it was the first one she gave me.

The real cake is this kind of spicy, dense thing, with caramel frosting in between the layers, and a cream cheese frosting on top. If you want to make the authentic version, you can look it up here. But when I've made it in my tiny kitchen, I've made them into cupcakes, left out the caramel layer, and topped the piped cream cheese frosting with a couple tiny homemade marzipan carrots. I leave out the pecans and raisins and instead throw in more carrots than originally called for-- because then it's healthy, right?

This recipe makes about 42 cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting is the right amount if you're piping the frosting just in the middle of the cupcake, but if you like a ton of frosting on your cupcake, feel free to make half again as much.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups corn oil
 (or canola, or sunflower, whatever you have) (272g)

2 cups sugar
 (400g)

2 cups flour (280g)

2 teaspoons cinnamon
 (7g)

2 teaspoons baking powder
 (7g) 

1 teaspoon baking soda
 (3+g)

1 teaspoon salt
 (6g)

4 eggs


6 cups grated carrots (almost a kilo-bag's worth of carrots, grated in the food processor)


Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces soft unsalted butter
 (100g)

4 ounces soft cream cheese
 (100g)

1/2 pound of powdered sugar
 (225g)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (2g)

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175ºC). Have ready a cupcake mold with the cupcake liners inside (I like to use a silicon form, because then the cupcakes are easy to push out). In a large bowl, whisk together the corn oil and sugar. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift half the dry ingredients into the sugar-oil mixture and blend. Alternately sift in the rest of the dry ingredients while adding the eggs, one by one. Combine well. Add the carrots. Pour into the prepared cupcake mold and bake for about 20-25 minutes-- keep an eye on the cakes and take them out when the tops look domed, set, and a little golden. If you are not using the cakes that day, they can be removed from the mold, wrapped well in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature. They also freeze really well, frosted or unfrosted.

Make the frosting: Cream the butter well. Add the cream cheese and beat until blended. Sift in the sugar and add the vanilla. If too soft to spread, chill a bit. Refrigerate if not using immediately, but bring to a spreadable temperature before using.