Mini Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

As I said before, I'm pretty obsessed with fall rolling in at the moment. Carrot cake sounded just perfect for another rainy New York day. And, can you believe that one of my roommates had never had carrot cake before?! Outrageous. I decided that must be remedied immediately.

Thanks to Martha Stewart, I can now say my roommate LOVES carrot cake and must have eaten oodles of these little guys. I also enjoyed these mini cupcakes. I think next time I will add some more spices, maybe a little nutmeg and some cardamom. I also left out raisins, because I don't like them in my carrot cake, and nuts, because my roommate is allergic. I really liked the buttermilk in them too, but who am I kidding?! I love buttermilk in most baked goods!

Carrot-Cake Mini Cupcakes
Martha Stewart

1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini muffin cups and set aside.

Beat sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla and buttermilk together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until well combined.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add three quarters of flour mixture to the sugar mixture; mix well until combined. Add carrots to remaining flour mixture and toss to combine. Stir batter until well combined.

Fill each muffin cup with about 2 teaspoons batter. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Martha Stewart

1 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add maple syrup, vanilla and confectioners' sugar; continue beating until well combined and smooth.