Orange cupcakes filled with apricot-raspberry-orange preserves, cream cheese-rum icing. Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

How did I spend my Friday night? Making cupcakes for my niece’s first birthday party tomorrow! On the left: chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate pudding & on the right: orange cupcakes filled with apricot-raspberry-orange preserves— all with cream cheese-rum icing and appropriate sprinkles. I’m so excited for my little homeslice’s party. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

Chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate pudding, chocolate-cream cheese icing, chocolate sprinkles, dark rum in everything but the sprinkles. Happy birthday to my awesome sister-in-law Lorissa. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

Restocked: maple-vanilla gelato. Like all of my flavors: $3 or 2 for $5 .

Guajillo-chocolate gelato, freshly churned. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

Chocolate cupcakes filled with raspberry preserves, chocolate icing, dark rum in cupcakes and icing. Happy birthday to my brother Sam. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

Chocolate cupcakes: vegan edition. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

Off to a party with two boxes of birthday cupcakes— triple ginger cake with cream cheese-rum-ginger icing. Bam. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

Freshly restocked, per special request: earl grey gelato. (Taken with Instagram at Kneaded Love HQ)

These cupcakes, taken to Montreal for the birthday party of a two year old, were deemed, “the best he’d ever had” by the birthday girl’s father. This was not a fluke. I’ve been making this carrot cake for as long as I can remember, and it’s so good that it converts people who swear they don’t like carrot cake.The recipe originally came from the Silver Palate cookbook (which I just learned originally came out in 1982, just like me!), though this version may have been modified somewhere along the way. 

Since these cupcakes were Montreal-bound in January for a toddler’s birthday, I thought the snowman cupcake liners from KAF were particularly apt. They were another Hanukkah present from my sister-in-law, who always picks out good ones.

Carrot Cake from Silver Palate

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Combine: 

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

2 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

Add: 

1 c. corn/vegetable oil*

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 t. vanilla

When combined, add: 

1 1/3 c. carrots, grated**

1 c. walnuts/pecans, chopped***

1 c. coconut****

3/4 c. canned crushed pineapple

Fill cupcake liners or greased and floured cake pans about halfway with batter. It rises quite well. 

Bake ≈ 30 minutes (cupcakes) or 1 hour (cake) / till done— when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This recipe makes enough for two 9” layers or 36 cupcakes of a reasonable size. 

* The best carrot cake I ever made was for my twenty-eighth birthday. Instead of corn/vegetable oil, I used coconut oil. AMAZING. If possible, I highly recommend doing this. 

** For the most part, measuring ingredients isn’t really my thing. I look at carrots, decide how many I want to use/have on hand, and grate them up. Sometimes it’s enough. Sometimes, like with these cupcakes, I don’t bother to check my fridge before starting the batter and then have to go raid my mother’s fridge only to find that she is also out of carrots and then have to once again drive to town and steal a carrot from the bakery. Sometimes. But it always works out in the end. 

*** Since I’m mildly allergic to walnuts, I only use pecans. And with this particular batch of cupcakes, I omitted the nuts completely— a birthday party with nearly 20 toddlers on hand is bound to have a nut allergy or two. Instead, I threw in a handful of thompson raisins. 

**** Instead of using the nasty sweetened shredded coconut they have in the baking aisle of every grocery store, do yourself a favor and get unsweetened desiccated coconut. If you really want to step it up, toast it before using. The flavor is infinitely superior and the smaller pieces make it disappear in the batter, adding a nice texture but not standing out as ribbons of too-sweet white stuff.