I swear these are the best carrot cake cupcakes I’ve ever eaten. Whether you enjoy them for breakfast, lunch or dinner, these tasty creations will not disappoint!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of chopped walnuts
- 1 pound of carrots
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup of buttermilk (or add a teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk and allow to stand for 10 minutes)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon of orange zest
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Cream cheese filling
Cream 125ml softened cream cheese with 1 egg yolk, ½ c. sugar, and ½ tsp. vanilla.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Toast the walnuts in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Rinse the carrots and peel the rough skins off, then grate the carrots.
- Place the carrots, buttermilk, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and orange zest together in a bowl and whisk thoroughly.
- In another bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and cinnamon.
- Fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture, being sure not to overmix. Fold in the toasted walnuts until evenly incorporated.
- Scoop into cupcake papers about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Plop a generous teaspoon of the cream cheese filling on top of the batter in each muffin cup. Bake for 19-21 minutes at 350F, being sure to rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking.
- Afterwards, allow cooling for 5 minutes before taking the cupcakes out of the cupcake tin and allowing them to fully cool on a wire rack.
Makes 24 cupcakes.