Carrot-Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The recipe for zucchini carrot cupcakes I discovered recently has been such a hit with everyone, that I've made them twice this past week. In fact, I had all intentions of making them for a third time today while preparing a meal for a family from our church. I took out all my ingredients, I shredded my carrots and zucchini, read out the dry ingredients from the recipe card and mixed them in a separate bowl all the while speaking on the phone to a friend of mine. Now, if you ever decide to undertake a baking project while on the phone, I would strongly advise against that because in my case, I realized I was actually making a different recipe only when I was half way done mixing all the ingredients- when I got to the point where it said 1 cup grated apple. Wait a minute!? The zucchini-carrot cupcakes did not have any apples in them! Duh! Look on the top of the recipe card- carrot-apple cupcakes! I already had my zucchini mixed with the carrots, so there was no turning back. :) I figured, well, here is an opportunity to try another new recipe which at some point I obviously liked enough to copy down on a recipe card. That's how I got to carrot-apple cupcakes. The recipe is different in a few ways from the zucchini carrot one:

it has apples,

it has raisins,

it has 4 instead of 2 eggs,

it has only cinnamon instead of the 4 different spices in the other recipe

Here is what you need:

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 large eggs 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar 1 cup (240 ml) safflower, corn, or canola oil 2 cups (210 grams) finely grated raw carrots 1 cup grated apple (approximately 2 large apples) 1/2 cup (55 grams) pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped 1 cup (100 grams) raisins or currants Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.  Place paper liners in 24 muffin cups. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.  In another large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil until slightly thickened. Fold in the flour mixture until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots, grated muffin, chopped nuts, and raisins. Evenly divide the batter between the 24 muffin cups and bake about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.   Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Pipe or with a knife or small metal spatula spread cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. Cover and refrigerate the cupcakes until serving time. I frosted my cupcakes with the maple brown sugar cream cheese frosting I used on the zucchini carrot cupcakes. It was a perfect combination.  While the carrot-apple cupcakes were really tasty, I preferred the spices in the zucchini cupcakes better, so next time I make them, I will definitely use not just cinnamon but: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Otherwise, I liked the moisture the apples added to the cupcakes and the extra sugar boost the raisins gave them too. Definitely another good fall/winter recipe. Recipe adapted  from: http://www.joyofbaking.com/CarrotCupcake.html