We love our original carrot cake recipe. We’ve played around with it to reduce the fat without sacrificing the flavor by replacing most of the vegetable oil with applesauce. You can reduce the calories even further by making mini-muffins, but it is hard to eat just one. If you are making “brown bag” lunch cupcakes, underfill the cupcake liners, so the finished cupcake doesn’t rise above the liner (see photo). That way you can frost the cupcake and wrap it with plastic wrap, without losing the frosting when you remove the wrapper.

Preheat oven to 325°. Line muffin tins with paper cupcake cups. Peel carrots, chop off ends, and grate finely, which is easiest using a food processor. Sift flour, CINNAMON, salt, baking soda and baking powder together, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until well blended. Add sugar, oil, applesauce, carrots, and PURE VANILLA EXTRACT, mix well at medium speed. Add flour mixture and nuts or raisins (if desired). Blend on low speed until just mixed, spoon into cupcake cups, about 3/4 full. Place the pans in the preheated oven, bake for 12 minutes. Switch the pans so the pan from the lower rack is now on the upper rack, and bake for 12 more minutes. Check for doneness–cupcakes should be browned and springy to the touch. Let cool completely before frosting. To prepare frosting: let cream cheese and butter come to room temperature. Blend thoroughly with PURE VANILLA EXTRACT, then beat in the powdered sugar at low speed. Add food coloring if desired; it gives the frosting a nice spreading consistency. If you don’t use food coloring, add a drizzle of milk to make the frosting spread more easily if desired.

Yield: 24 cupcakes.
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes.
Baking time: 24 minutes.