Butter and Rest: A Cupcake by Any Other Name

…would be a muffin. And a totally legit breakfast choice.

I have been threatening, er, promising to convert you to eating cake for Sabbath breakfast and today we shall make our first true foray down that sugar-laden trail of joy that scoffs at bran cereal and can justify most anything as a breakfast food. This one is a total fatty across the plate. Carrots, oranges, coconut milk, cream cheese — it’s practically a bowl of granola. No kidding.

Now, before you get all giddy and start recklessly clicking links, I need to preface with an introduction to the Adventures in Cooking blog. Your food is never going to look like this. Neither is mine. I honestly doubt hers does; she is just a better photographer than we are. Our blogs are polar opposites, as are, I suspect, our worldviews, but I have tried many of her recipes and she is downright knacky with flavor combinations and using the things that are growing around her. And — super duper pretty pictures. Have a kitchen towel handy for mopping up the drool before you click. But of all the recipes of Eva’s that I have tried out, this one is my favorite.

(Read past the recipe that I DID NOT WRITE. You wouldn’t want to miss the punchline, would you??)

Carrot Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

CARROT CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

These carrot cupcakes are spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and make for an incredibly moist and flavorful little cake. You can ice them with the cream cheese frosting for an extra bit of silky goodness, or omit it to make a simple carrot cake muffin.

servings 30 CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

CARROT CUPCAKES

• 2 1/3 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange or satsuma zest
• 2 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup peeled diced, crushed, and drained orange or satsuma
• 1/4 cup flax seeds

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 10 tablespoons butter softened
• 16 ounces cream cheese
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1. Mix the cream cheese, vanilla and butter together until they are completely combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix until blended. Set aside.

CARROT CUPCAKES

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin pan with oven safe cupcake liners and set aside.
2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a medium-sized bowl. Set it aside. Then mix together the oil and sugars in a large bowl until well blended.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add the coconut milk, vanilla extract, and orange zest and mix until blended. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until they are just combined. Stir in the shredded carrots, crushed orange, and flax seeds.
4. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full with batter. Place the muffin pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out relatively clean.
5. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan and allow them to cool for another 30 minutes.
6. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, ice them with the cream cheese frosting. Serve immediately and refrigerate any leftovers. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Pretty obvious that I didn’t write this. But I couldn’t get the button-copy-pasty–embeddy-linky-thingy to work. So there ya go. I have never once used flax seed in these, and I find it hilarious that she suggests not putting the frosting on would make it a muffin — if your muffins don’t routinely have frosting, you might be doing muffins wrong.

Christ is risen. Do you need a better reason for eating cake for breakfast?