Not Too Sweet Carrot Pumpkin Cupcakes

Last weekend I went to the U of M to visit two of my best friends.  One of those friends was celebrating his 19^th birthday, so I decided to bring him a birthday treat.  I asked him what he would choose to have for his birthday if he could have anything in the world.  He couldn’t really come up with one single thing but told me “not too sweet.” I knew he liked pumpkin/carrot/any kind of spice cake so I suggested that and he seemed pretty happy.  So, these are my “not too sweet” carrot pumpkin cupcakes.  The pumpkin is pretty subtle because the spices add so much flavor.  The sugar measurements are picky because I wanted to get just the perfect amount of sweetness.  I lowered the sugar content and added some honey in both the cupcakes and the frosting.  The ironic thing about honey is that it’s much sweeter than sugar but the tanginess makes it seem less intense than straight sugar.  These cupcakes turned out moist (that’s the oil working its magic) and just sweet enough to satisfy my crazy sweet tooth.  And they got rave reviews from my roommates, my mom, and one very handsome birthday boy. Hope you like ‘em!

Not Too Sweet Carrot Pumpkin Cupcakes

Makes about 12-16 cupcakes *

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

½  tsp cloves

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

a couple shakes of pumpkin pie spice

²/₃ cup oil

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoon brown sugar

¼ cup plus a tablespoon white sugar

2 eggs

¼ cup plus a tablespoon honey

1.5 tsp vanilla

½ tsp lemon juice

¾ cup pumpkin purée

1 cup grated carrot

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to generally frost the cupcakes and have a little left over for snacking

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks of butter (softened)

5 Tbs cream cheese (softened)

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup + 1 Tbs honey

1 cup powder sugar

Directions:

Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 and line muffin tin with 12 muffin liners (add more liners if you have extra batter)

Put all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, pumpkin pie spice) into a mixing bowl and set aside.  Beat together the sugars and the oil until the sugar starts to dissolve a little bit.  The sugar will not dissolve completely but it should look a little bit creamy.  Beat the eggs into the mixture until they are thoroughly combined.  Add the honey, vanilla, lemon juice, pumpkin puree, and grated carrot to the mixture and beat until all ingredients are combined.  Gradually add the dry ingredients (in parts) to the wet ingredients just until combined; you don’t want to over-beat the flour.  Stir in the chopped walnuts.  Scoop the batter into the muffin tin filling each of the cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 16-19 minutes (check at 16) at 350 degrees F.

Frosting:

Beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).   Beat in the honey, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  Pipe or spread over completely cooled cupcakes.

Notes:

*I planned for this recipe to make 12 muffins but given my slightly smaller than average muffin pan, I got 16.  So, it will depend on the size of your muffin tin.  The baking will also depend on the size.  My slightly smaller cupcakes only took about 16 minutes.  If you have a tin with muffin cups of a larger radius, the baking time will likely be longer.

*In my haste to get packed and too the bus on time I completely forgot to take a picture.  I'm pretty bummed because they were very pretty cupcakes but really I'm just glad I made it to the before it left without me.