Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I bought the smallest bag of carrots I could find in the grocery store for a stew I was making and still had plenty left over. I had enough to make a carrot cake. As what I like best about carrot cake is the cream cheese frosting, I decided to make cupcakes so I could get lots of frosting per bite.

If you want to kick it up a notch, replace 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract with 2 teaspoons of Praline Liquor.

Carrot Cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Frosting: 

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 lbs powdered sugar 
• 4 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans.

Pour into pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on racks and allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy. Stir in the nuts. Spread frosting on top of each cupcake.