Call me cliché, but I strongly believe that spring holidays just aren’t the same without carrot cake. Don’t think about it too hard, because carrots are fall and winter vegetables, so it makes basically no sense, but who am I to argue with pastry tradition?

I’ve eaten more variations of carrot cake than I care to admit: cakey and dense, with nuts and without, even containing pineapple (my personal favorite). Until now, my favorite carrot cake was a tie. The first contender was from my college cafeteria. I know it sounds insane given the reputation of dorm food, but don’t judge it if you haven’t tried it. It was the cake that transformed me from a carrot cake hater into a carrot cake addict. It was that good. The other best is from Flour Bakery in Boston and if you’ve been there, no further elaboration is necessary.

But these carrot cupcakes really throw a wrench into my carefully organized hierarchy of Best Carrot Cakes. They’re so good that I made them for my brother-in-law’s birthday and he ate nearly an entire cupcake in one bite. The only thing holding him back from eating the whole thing in that first bite was that his mouth wasn’t big enough. But believe me – he tried. And my poor sister-in-law, who is a meat and potatoes girl through and through, and who thinks I only eat “weird food”,  ate two of these without even realizing what she was doing! She loved them. And I never really did have the heart to tell her that they were made of wholesome, low-glycemic, healthy ingredients. Let’s just keep that between us, shall we?

Classic Carrot Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 box Simple Mills Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and shredded
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• ¼ cup oil
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons water
• Your favorite frosting

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a 12-compartment cupcake/muffin pan and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mix, cinnamon and ginger. Add the carrots, raisins and walnuts and stir to combine.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla and water.
4. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed.
5. Divide the batter among the compartments of the prepared cupcake pan.
6. Put the cupcakes into the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350F. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
7. Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
8. Finish with your favorite frosting, or skip the frosting and serve them as muffins.

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Feel like indulging? Purchase a variety pack of our 3 new mixes here!

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