Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes

If you are anything like me, you have all kinds of yummy stuff pinned on pinterest that you want to eventually try some day, but haven’t actually gotten around to making many of the recipes. It is probably better that my pin boards continue to grow instead of my waistline, but once in a while there is a recipe I come across that I deem worthy of the extra effort and calories.

When I saw these Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes from Crazy for Crust, I knew it was one of those recipes. Usually I tend towards all things chocolate, but the carrot and cream cheese combination appealed to me instantly and I knew it was something I had to make. I have been waiting for an excuse to attempt them and this week I finally found my reason.

Tommorow, my good friend Linda from playgroup will be undergoing surgery on her knees to help with the back issues she has been having. She will be missing out on the fun and treats for our Halloween party next week and won’t be back to playgroup for several weeks, so I wanted to do something special for her. I recall a discussion where she told me of her love of cream cheese icing and how she has even gone so far as to eat it by the spoonful directly from the container. Whipping up a batch of icing would have been much simpler, but I figured these carrot cake cheesecake cupcakes would make a pretty tasty vehicle for the cream cheese icing! I was not disappointed.

Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes

Carrot Cake Layer:

1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 350°. Line muffin pan with liners.
Make the cake batter: In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in carrots.
Distribute evenly between 12 muffin liners. Set aside.

Cheesecake Layer:

1 pack (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Make the cheesecake batter by mixing together the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly on top of cake batter in muffin pan.
Step over snoring bulldog at your feet to get to oven. *Optional
Bake for about 25 minutes, until cheesecake is no longer runny. Cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the frosting: Using a mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend.

Store in refrigerator. Yield: 12 cupcakes

I brought enough to share with the other ladies at playgroup, and packaged up a few extras for Linda to take home with her.

The recipe has a few steps, but it is fairly simple and straightforward. I doubled the quantities which meant it required 4 whole bricks of cream cheese between the cheesecake layer and the icing. While I was happy to be able to buy my cream cheese in bulk at Costco, I am now at a loss about what to do with the remainder of my giant bag of Costco carrots. At only $5 for the bag, dealing with 10 lbs of carrots seemed much easier then having to make a stop at a second grocery store with kids in tow.