Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

March. Spring. The fifth March on this blog. My birthday approaches — fifty-three this time, which is a number that has no particular significance except that it's one more than fifty-two and one more is the only math I care about. One more year. One more birthday. One more set of biscuits with sorghum and one more slice of Connie's meatloaf and one more phone call from Betty singing off-key. One more. Always one more.

Jolene's baby shower was Saturday. Thirty people at Travis and Jolene's house. The "woodland creature" theme was executed with a precision that would make a wedding planner weep — acorns and foxes and tiny knitted deer on every surface. Connie orchestrated. I smoked. Pulled pork sliders for thirty, smoked chicken quarters, coleslaw (Connie's), baked beans (mine), cornbread (Clay's — he volunteered, made six pans, ninety-one percent). The food was good. The shower was good. Jolene opened gifts that were small and soft and designed for a person who doesn't exist yet but who is already loved by thirty people and a hundred ancestors and a kitchen that has been preparing for him since before his parents met.

Betty was there. FaceTime, propped against a punch bowl this time. She watched the gift opening and the eating and the laughter and at one point she said "Is there cornbread?" and I held a piece up to the camera and she said "Who made it?" and I said "Clay" and she said "Good. Is it right?" and I said "Ninety-one percent" and she said "That'll do." That'll do. Betty's stamp of approval on Clay's cornbread at a baby shower for a baby who will eat Clay's cornbread someday and who will learn that Betty said "That'll do" and who will understand that "That'll do" is the highest language of love in the Hensley vocabulary.

Clay brought the cornbread and it was ninety-one percent perfect, and Betty said “That’ll do,” and that was the whole afternoon right there — people doing their part and doing it well and showing up for each other. In that same spirit, I want to leave you with something sweet that holds up to a crowd: Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, the kind of recipe that scales easily to thirty, travels well to someone else’s kitchen, and earns its own version of “That’ll do” from whoever is watching over the table. Someday Jolene’s boy will eat one of these and not know the whole story behind the afternoon they were first made for him, and that’s exactly right — that’s how love becomes food becomes tradition.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 47 min | Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until evenly combined.
Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition, then stir in the vanilla extract.
Combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the grated carrots, drained pineapple, and walnuts if using.
Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 20–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. Do not frost warm cupcakes.
Make the frosting. Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating on low until incorporated, then add the vanilla and pinch of salt. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and creamy, about 1 additional minute.
Frost. Spread or pipe the cream cheese frosting generously onto each cooled cupcake. Garnish with a light dusting of cinnamon or a small walnut half if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting — Sweet Enough for Betty’s Stamp of Approval