Maple Carrot Cupcakes with Buttercream and Coconut (Chick Cupcakes)

Happy Easter everyone! Here are the chick cupcakes that I made for tomorrow. I went with a maple carrot cake, topped with buttercream and coconut, in a chick design. My toddler LOVES them. As soon as she saw them she squealed, "Ooohhh it's soooo cute!!!" hehehe They are very easy to make and the carrot cake is the best I've ever made. It's super moist and has the right amount of spice to it.

As for the decorations, I've been experimenting with natural food coloring lately. I decided that instead of using store bought coloring to make the coconut yellow, I would use turmeric. It worked perfectly. If you want to skip the coconut, you could always add it to the frosting instead. Just make sure you don't add too much turmeric or it will turn bitter. As long as that doesn't happen, you won't be able to taste the turmeric at all. The eyes were made with melted chocolate and the beak was made with a very thinly sliced carrot. I figured since it's carrot cake, the raw carrot wouldn't be noticed. And I was right! :)

Grate the carrots

Mix the wet ingredients

Let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature

The coconut with turmeric added

Add the frosting

Add the coconut and decorate

Maple Carrot Cupcakes with Buttercream and Coconut

Serving Size = About 10

Original Recipe (Adapted From)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon or so ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil (I used almond oil but vegetable or grapeseed works as well)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated carrots

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, and syrup. Mix until combined.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just moistened. Add the carrots and mix until just combined.
4. Grease a cupcake pan and line it with cupcake liners. Fill each liner 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Cool in the muffin pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Turmeric Food Coloring

• 1 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon or so of water
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

1. Combine everything and mix. Add more turmeric to increase the color, but not too much or it could become bitter. Add enough water just so that it's slightly moistened and mixes well. Do not add too much water though.

Click here for the buttercream frosting recipe (I made the full recipe and had extra left, you could probably halve it, they don't require a ton of frosting since the coconut is sweetened)

Decorations

1. A handful or so of chocolate chips, melted, placed into a ziplock with the tip cut off.
2. 1/2 a carrot, thinly sliced and then cut into triangles to create beaks (you could use a piece of candy instead if you want).

Linking to: Sweets for a Saturday, Foodie Friday, Gallery of Favorites