Orange = Fall

Of course this means that I need to bake something orange! I was tired of making all things chocolate (blasphemy, I know) and all the falling leaves, dotting the lawns in my neighborhood, clogging my windshield wipers just brought to mind this color of the Fall.

So I trolled the Internet, my fingertips cookbook and found the following recipe on epicurious.com. I decided to change the recipe around a little with the flavorings, and I didn't have large eggs so I found that substituting 2 Jumbo eggs for 3 large eggs did not damage the integrity of the recipe.

So here's what I made:



And here's the modified recipe!

Carrot Cupcakes with Orange Icing

Ingredients

For cupcakes
2 cups of grated carrots
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Dash of allspice
Zest from a large orange
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Jumbo eggs (or 3 large, as the recipe says)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup of golden raisins

For icing
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Directions
Make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

Coarsely grate enough carrots to measure 2 cups using large teardrop holes of a box grater.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a bowl.

Whisk together oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, grated carrots, orange zest and vanilla in a large bowl, then stir in flour mixture until just combined. Then add raisins and fold into batter.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on rack, about 1 hour more.

Make icing:
Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl. Whisk in zest and 2 tablespoons juice until smooth. If icing is too thick, add more juice, 1 teaspoon at a time. Dip top of each cupcake into icing, letting excess drip off.


Note:
I used mini muffin pans and they are cute, bite-sized and perfect for your next holiday party, or just to parcel out during the week for yourself. Mini bites means mini guilt. (ha!)