Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Tomorrow we are celebrating the January/February birthdays with the family. I have decided to make carrot cake cupcakes. (They're my brother-in-law's other favorite dessert.) I love this recipe because you can do it all in one bowl and you can mix it all by hand. No stand mixer or hand beater necessary. Such an easy clean up. This is yet another fail proof recipe if you're making a cake and NOT cupcakes. It's moist and delicious and it has the perfect balance of cinnamon-not too much but just enough to get the essence of it without being overpowered by it. It's classically topped off with a cream cheese frosting. I thought I could just convert them into cupcakes and it was an EPIC FAILURE. They spread up and and out and it was just a huge mound of cake. I managed to flip them out-almost in one huge mass and cut away the edges, but it just wasn't pretty. So I decided to make the actual cake instead and give out the cupcakes as snacks. I used this recipe, and you can just put it all in a 9x13 dish, but I like to do it in 2 round 9 inch pans with frosting in between, on top and all around.

Ingredients

* 4 eggs
* 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
* 1 3/4 cups white sugar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3 cups grated carrots
* 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts-preferably toasted first

Cream Cheese Frosting
* 2 sticks of butter, softened
* 2 packages of cream cheese, softened (16 oz.)
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x13 inch pan or 2-9 inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix together all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.) Stir in carrots. Fold in nuts. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan(s) for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. For the frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.