To me carrot cake cupcakes scream Mother’s Day.  Whether it’s in a cake form or a cupcake form my mom loves carrot cake anything.  Last time I’ve made carrot cake was for her birthday and she fell in love with it.

I’ve made carrot cake a couple of times and each time I try out a new recipe so I can find “the one”.  I have to say that I cannot find a carrot cake recipe I don’t like.  All I know is that each person has their own substitutes and additions when it comes to carrot cake.  Some add pineapple and raisins, others like pecans instead of walnuts, and others have their special spice blends.  I’m no exception.  I absolutely have to have pineapple, toasted walnuts and fresh nutmeg.  Although I always add raisins, I could do without them. This time I used half the granulated sugar called for and I added brown sugar.  You also don’t want to bake the cupcakes too long, because you’ll end up with a drier cake.

As I was making them last night a bag of dried cranberries was just staring at me, asking me to use it, but I decided not to experiment.  I didn’t want to mess with a classic recipe the day before Mother’s Day.  But I’m very interested in this idea.  Did anyone ever try adding cranberries to their carrot cake?

This is an unegaminedanslacuisine recipe. The changes I made were : 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar(instead of the 2 cups of granulated sugar), one 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple (well-drained) and freshly grated nutmeg.  Here’s the recipe: http://unegaminedanslacuisine.com/2011/12/carrot-cake-cupcakes-with-cinnamon.html

Happy Mother’s Day!!