Carrot Cupcakes

Today is for my husband.  Carrot cake has been his favourite dessert for a very long time now, and I'm hoping that these little cupcakes will meet with his approval.  I debated making a whole cake but this way I can give some of them away (if hubby lets me :), and it's better for our waistlines if we're not tempted by a whole cake calling for us from the kitchen for days :o)

Carrot Cupcakes
makes 12

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

• preheat the oven to 350 F. 
• spread 1/2 cup of coconut out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and toast in the oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the browned coconut to a small bowl and set aside to cool, for topping the cupcakes.
• in a bowl, combine the sugar, oil, orange juice, vanilla and eggs.
• stir in the baking powder, baking soda, allspice and salt.
• add the flour and mix.  Stir in the shredded carrots, the walnuts and the remaining coconut.
• line a 12 pan muffin tin with paper liners, and distribute the batter evenly between them.
• bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese icing (recipe below), and sprinkling with the reserved toasted coconut.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz block of cream cheese, at room temp
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

• in a mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.  Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

 it looks like a lot of ingredients, but well worth the effort.

toasted coconut is great sprinkled over breakfast cereal or ice cream or just about anything else really - it's awesome!

you'll want to combine things in a couple of stages, just to make sure everything's mixed up completely.

make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl to get everything mixed together.

this combination of carrots, walnuts and coconut is delicious.

evenly divide the batter between the 12 muffin tins.

let them cool completely before you frost them.

you can either pipe the icing onto the cupcakes, or as I did, spread it on with a small spatula.

finish with the toasted coconut on top.