I review a lot of recipes, but I'm happy to be the first reviewer of this one. The flavor of these is wonderful and would get five stars on its own. They are moist and fluffy. There are a couple of small problems, however. The recipe states to fill the cupcake liners "to the top". Even when I did this I ended up with 14 cupcakes. I'm a very experienced baker, so I wish I had gone with my gut and made 15 or 16 cupcakes. I ended up with the cupcakes spilling over the tops and adhering to the cupcake pan. I thought with all that baking powder they'd rise nicely, but they were pretty flat. I did follow the directions precisely, but added the vanilla with the other wet ingredients. I'm certain this didn't affect the outcome. The frosting is delicious, but mine turned out somewhat thin, even without all the milk. My advice would be to make 15 or 16 cupcakes, and to add NO milk to the frosting until the very end and then, only if you need it.
I heeded the review of Pam-3 boysmama I did not put milk in the frosting at all and used 3 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar. OMG delicious! I hope there's some left for my bosses birthday on Tuesday!! Oh and mine made 22 cupcakes.
Totally delicious twist on carrot cake. I wish I'd made carrot cake sooner because I totally love it. This recipe was easy enough to follow and turned out perfectly and this coming from someone easily frustrated in the kitchen. I even messed up on the frosting and it turned out okay. I was distracted by a scary movie and didn't read the instructions. I added the butter and cream cheese to the confectioners sugar and had to mix it dry. I ended up with a few lumps but it still turned out good. Pic of my results added:)
After reading some of the reviews I felt compelled to make some additions to the recipe. I followed the recipe as is but added 1/2 tsp of ginger allspice and nutmeg each. Came out very flavorful fluffy and light. Loved them. Made samples to take to work with me. These just might be the cupcakes for Easter we've been looking for!!! Thanks urbansunshine!!
I make a lot of cupcakes and am always looking for a new recipe to try. This was my first try at carrot cupcakes. I used butter instead of oil and creamed the butter, sugar and vanilla, then added the eggs, flour mixture and carrots and pineapple. They came out great. My one suggestion would be to make sure you grate the carrots. I put them in a food processor and I don't think I got the pieces quite small enough.
I also used vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract in the frosting.
Mmmmmmmmm......so good! They are good with and without the frosting. I was a little nervous because the batter tasted very carroty but after baking the flavor is amazing!
I sent these to a fundraiser and I had two different people ask if I counld make them for their events.... rave reviews
This recipe was good but not great. Admittedly, I made a couple of mods: instead of oil I subbed an equal amount of pineapple juice which made it deliciously moist but baking time needed to be adjusted. I also used light brown sugar instead of white. Finally, and this was just my error as I misread the recipe, I used 2 cups of finely shredded carrot instead of 1 cup. The result was an ultramoist cake, really fluffy too. But it lacked the spice that typifies a carrot cake IMO, and I even added a bit of powdered ginger to it. I was surprised it lacked nuts and/or raisins but I figured maybe the taste would be so good that they wouldn't be missed. Not so. And I'm not the "Paula Deen" type of baker who thinks everything can be made to taste good with a ton of sugar and/or butter/oil. Kinda bummed.
At any rate, the recipe wasn't bad but if you like a moderately to strongly spiced carrot cake then this recipe isn't for you. I don't know that I would try this recipe again but if I did it would be so heavily modified that it wouldn't be the same recipe anymore.
Also, if anyone is curious, all that added moisture did not ruin the cakey-ness--it was just not a dry cake at all. They also weren't too sweet, but they did have an extra carrot-y flavor due to my error but still tasty. But like I saw another reviewer mentioned, they didn't rise particularly well. If you're okay with flat cupcake tops and the lack of texture and spice, then by all means try this recipe.
We love love loved this recipe. I followed it to a T and got 24 cupcakes using reg cupcake tins. The cream cheese frosting was to die for. So good in fact that my daughter in law threatened to eat it all with a spoon!! I will be making this recipe again...and again....and again...well...you get the drift....go make this right now!!!
