Tuesday, December 8, 2009

CARROT CUPCAKES W/ CREAM CHEESE ICING


Not everything has to be home made, besides Martha Stewart, who really has the time? So I took a page from Sandra and made these cupcakes semi-homemade. I used a boxed cake mix but made the icing from scratch.

So to start off, I made the cupcakes according to the package directions. I used a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe cake mix. My review at the bottom.


I picked it because it had a pouch of real carrots and raisins. You had to rehydrate the carrots and raisins in hot water. There really weren't all that many in the package either. If I used this again I would definitely add more real carrots and raisins to the mix.




They cooked up really nice and the house smelled really good and Christmasey from all this baking I was doing!

Next, it was time to make the icing. I changed up the original recipe I found for this, and I have to say I personally liked the changes I made.


Ingredients

  • 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 tbl Milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.
  2. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Really simple recipe and it tastes so much better than store bought. This recipe has a nice strong cream cheese flavor. If you don't like a strong cream cheese flavor, simply add more confectioners sugar and a little milk if it is too thick.


All you have left to do now if frost those cuppies and enjoy! I used an icing bag and tip to decorate mine and it is so much easier than trying to ice them with a knife in my opinion, plus it looks a ton better. You just squeeze it right on and you are done. I added sprinkles and CANDIED WALNUTS to the tops of my cup cakes.






MY REVIEW OF DUNCAN HINES MOIST DELUXE DECADENT CARROT CAKE:


3 out of 5 Spoons

I think it is a nice base mix, but could really use a little sprucing up with a dash or two more cinnamon, maybe some nutmeg. I also think the package of carrots and raisins were nice, but needed more, so I would add those next time I used this mix.

However, this is how my boyfriend feels about them, and I quote "it tastes like heaven ,i thought about them n my sleep".

5 comments:

Stiletto said...

YUM!
i LOVE Carrot cake!!!!
of course it's probably the cream cheese frosting that i really love, but hey, VEGGIES! that's gotta count for something!

Cheryl said...

I am one lucky lady. Last night I had a knock on my door and when I opened it there was my middle daughter with a hot mini carrot cake in her hand. Earlier my youngest daughter had brought me 2 plates of food from her christmas party. Sunday my oldest daughter came over and helped me decorate. What a wonderful holidat season I'm having!

Olga said...

They look lovely Brooke, I could eat at least 6!!! I've just discovered you have this cooking blog and so far i'm loving it. No Dinky pic in this one?

Brooke said...

OLGA!!!!!!! I thought that was you! How have you been? It's been forever!!! Send me an email and lets catch up! brookiebaby0506@yahoo.com

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