I have a new favesie thing.
It’s carrot cake.
This is weird for a couple of reasons.
1. Carrot cake is made of (not surprisingly) lots of carrot. Why would my new favorite thing be a VEGETABLE cake when there are things like peanut butter and chocolate in the world? Seriously, like 6 (full-sized, not baby) carrots inside.
2. Usually carrot cake has raisins in it. EW, ew, ew, EW. Raisins baked into anything (especially a fluffy cake) makes my tongue itch. Before you get all WebMD on me, no, this isn’t due to an allergy. Rather, the texture of raisins gives me the heebie jeebies; they’re just so…plump. Some things make people’s skin crawl, baked raisins make my tongue itch. Judge me.
3. Cream cheese frosting. Yeeuck. I have a food aversion to cream cheese on anything except a bagel.
But, the stars aligned this weekend when I stumbled upon a raisinless carrot cake recipe AND discovered a perfect [not-too-cream-cheesy] frosting while doing my weekly cupcake research. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.
Carrot cake will make your whole apartment smell like pure heaven AND since there is like 1/2 carrot in every cupcake you can count it as a serving of vegetables. Seriously, I checked with my nutritionist roomie.* These cupcakes are SO moist and perfectly flavored.
ALSO I smooshed the extra carrot cake and cream cheese frosting together to make carrot cake cake balls and they were the BEST cake balls I’ve ever had. Bonus points for zero cream cheese taste.
Pop on over to Pinch of Yum for the carrot cake cupcake recipe! I used a slightly different cream cheese frosting recipe (see below).
Cream Cheese Frosting
(yield: enough for 12 cupcakes)
- 8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
- 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*Another lie. Sarah please don’t call me out. 1/2 a serving?
These were perfection. From the teeny heart on top to the yummy cake and delightful frosting. SO yum!
Raisins are made of ground up devil’s horns plumped up with pure evil. DOWN WITH RAISINS!! UP WITH CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES!!
LONG LIVE RAISINLESS CARROT CAKE!!
I thought I was the only weirdo in Boston (or the world, for that matter) who experiences the weird tongue itching, non allergy raisin phenomenon! I’m not alone! Yay! !
YES!! So glad to hear that this is a real thing!! We should probably start a Facebook group about it?
Mm!! These look so good and I love carrot cake!
Ok, I love cream cheese on every level, and this frosting looks amazeballs.
Also, these might be my favorite photos you’ve posted…and that’s saying something, since you post a lot of good photos. =)
Wow, love to hear that! Though it makes me seriously reconsider my fancy camera purchase, considering these are mostly iPhone pics…
I absolutely adore carrot cake, and even had a carrot cake wedding cake. We had marzipan fondant rather than a cream cheese frosting, although I love cream cheese frosting, too. I have a co-worker who also refers to raisins as the devil’s fruit, so I guess you’re not alone with your distaste for them.
Both your cupcakes and cake balls look delicious. I’m happy you found a recipe that you’re happy with.
Carrot cake is da bomb. TRUTH.