Orange- Zest Carrot Cake cupcakes

With Easter just passing..I really wanted to do something that reminded me of Easter. Bunny's love Carrots..so why not some Carrot Cake?!
These were the cutest Cupcakes ever! they Tasted so yummy. I will definitly use this recipe for all my future Carrot cakes. The secret ingredient to the cream cheese icing was....wait for it...are you ready?.......

Orange Juice (I used juice fresh from a orange) & Orange zest. Deee-lish! It made the icing so fresh.
here is the recipe for the cake:
1 c. Flour
1 c.Sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1\2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups fresh grated carrots
2\3 cups of additional nuts of your choice (chopped)

heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine- Flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda in a large bowl.
In another bowl beat eggs VERY well until frothy and foamy and gradually add oil in a stream.
Then add the flour to the egg mixture, and flod in the carrots and nuts.
pour into muffin cups, filling to the top, and cook for about 20 Minutes.

Cream cheese-Icing recipe

ingredients:
1\2 cup (1 sticks) butter, softened
•1 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
•4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 2 lbs.)
•1 tablespoons milk
•1 tablespoon orange juice
•1 teaspoon orange zest

instructions
In medium mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar one cup at a time and milk. Mix well. Beat on high until smooth (only 30 seconds to 1 minute). Thin to ice cake smooth; use full strength for piping borders.

NOTE: Do not use light cream cheese or butter substitute. If margarine is used, icing will be softer.


I wanted to get a little festive. So... I couldnt resist adding mini Fondant Carrots as the topper for each cake. They were so much fun to make.

Do you Love it or what?! they are almost too cute to eat.




to do the swirl for the icing here is what I did...It only takes a minute to do a fancy swirl.For all you decorators out there...
I simply used tip# 1M. Hold tip 1\4" on a 90 degree angle and start your swirl from the outside working your way in to the center. then pipe a second spiral not as big on top of the other one. Easy as pie!



since it was Easter weekend I wanted to make them even more fun. So I went to Micheal "the Craft store" and bought little easter egg baskets for the cupcakes to go in. and for a added touch I had to sneak in a chocolate easter egg. I wish I had a picture of the final touches.