Carrot Cupcakes...With or Without Raisins!

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting used to be my all-time favorite kind of cake.   I had a huge carrot cake for my 30th birthday party (which was way longer ago than I care to discuss), an adorable Classic Winnie-the-Pooh carrot cake for my baby shower when I was expecting Benjamin (also way longer ago than I care to discuss!), and I even thought about having a layer of our wedding cake carrot.  For some reason, I decided against the carrot wedding cake, but for the life of me can't remember what flavor I went with.  Guess that was a long time ago, too!  ANYWAY...my point is, that somewhere along the way, carrot cake took a backseat to my quest for all things chocolate (well, MOST things chocolate...also peanut butter, caramel, lemon...you get the idea).

Until now.  I had run across a few recipes for carrot cupcakes and figured I would eventually get around to making one.  And now I have.

When I started really putting some thought to doing this, I knew that I wanted to go with the carrot cake recipe of an old family friend.  Donna is the one who made that adorable Winnie-the-Pooh cake for my baby shower (and our beautiful wedding cake I can't remember the flavor of) and her recipe is super good.  Of course, the recipe was MIA when I first started looking, but I found it, tweaked the spices a bit, added some raisins (to half the batch, anyway!), and here we are!

These cupcakes have a great flavor , and topped with an orange cream cheese frosting, are "nearly perfect in every way"....to quote Mary Poppins.  :)

Carrot Cupcakes
{recipe makes about 24}

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots (about 4 medium sized carrots)
1 cup raisins soaked in water for about an hour (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line cupcakes pans with paper liners.  Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until well combined.  If you choose to use raisins, you can throw them in now.

Divide the batter among the prepared cupcake liners.  Bake for 18-22 minutes.  Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar
grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cream together the cream cheese and butter.  Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting is smooth and creamy.  Add the orange zest and beat for another minute or so.  Frost the cooled cupcakes your favorite way!  I used a pastry bag and a Wilton 1M tip.

{FYI- my hubby said these are his favorite cupcakes so far!}