A Vegetable for Dessert

Cupcakes make people happy. With no actual vegetables in sight, these Carrot Patch Cupcakes are a fun, simple way to celebrate spring and guarantee smiles!

The recipe starts with a basic chocolate cupcake. Having a go-to recipe is perfect for when the decorating will take center stage. I’ve already baked the chocolate cupcakes. The best time to make the frosting is while they cool.

Begin by mixing together a batch of classic buttercream frosting. Softened butter, powdered sugar, half & half and vanilla are combined to create the base. Divide the frosting in half and place into two bowls. Stir melted chocolate into one half of the frosting. Transfer 3 tablespoons of frosting from the second bowl into a third bowl and color it green. This is for the carrot tops, so you won’t need much green frosting. Color the remaining white frosting with orange food coloring.

Scoop the orange frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Place the green frosting into a resealable food bag, snip off a very small corner.

By this point, the cupcakes should be completely cooled. I’ve found doing the decorating in an assembly line is the easiest. Start by creating the carrot shape in all of the cupcakes. Use a paring knife to cut a cone shape into the center but save the centers; we’ll crumble these for “dirt”.

Now, make the carrot. Fill the center of the cupcake with orange frosting, piling the frosting to create a rounded top. Again, do this with all of your cupcakes.

Frost around the carrot top using the chocolate frosting, taking care not to smear the orange.

Sprinkle the chocolate frosting with the crumbled centers you saved to mimic dirt.

To complete your carrots use the reserved green frosting to pipe short threads on the orange top.

You can keep the center a surprise and enjoy everyone’s reaction when they take a bite! Or, cut one in half before serving to show the fun carrot shape. These Carrot Patch Cupcakes are sure to make everyone smile and it’s your secret how simple they were to make. Enjoy!