Carrot Banana Cupcake

It's my little angel's 22nd month today! We usually do a simple celebration every month by baking a cake (out of the box. hehe..) so she can blow a candle. So I thought of that cream cheese frosting again, and had the idea of making carrot cupcakes. I found a simple recipe from the Joy of Baking website, but I didn't have apples nor applesauce (it makes the cupcake moist) so I replaced it with mashed bananas instead. Actually, the recipe is almost similar to my banana muffin recipe, I just added the cream cheese frosting this time.


Carrot Banana Cupcake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup grated carrot (approx. 1 medium-sized)
1 cup mashed banana (approx. 2 medium-sized)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 deg. C). Place paper cup liners in 12 cup muffin pan.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil. Fold in the flour mixture to the egg mixture then add the grated carrot, mashed bananas, raisins and chopped nuts. Mix until well blended.

Pour the batter to the paper cups. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. It's cooked when you insert a toothpick in the middle of the cupcake and it comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let them cool completely.

Frosting: With a hand mixer (or in a bowl of an electric mixer), beat together the cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Spread the cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. Store the cupcake in the refrigerator.