Inside Out Carrot Cupcakes

I've never been a big cake fan (Don't get me wrong, if there is cake in the room, I will eat it). I do love carrot cake.  This has been a favorite since childhood.  We even had carrot cake for our wedding cake.

I needed to make something for school, but wanted something pretty easy to make.  Cupcakes are nice, but I wasn't up for the extra step of frosting them.  I found this recipe for Inside Out Carrot Cupcakes on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect.

They turned out very yummy.  At first I thought they were a little dense, but overall they were great.  Everyone at school thought they were delicious too.  There were a few leftovers that got eaten up the next day.

Inside Out Carrot Cupcakes

Filling one 8-ounce package cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese 1/4 cup granulated sugar a few drops of Fiori di Sicilia flavor, optional (I didn't have it and mine were still tasty) Muffins 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar ¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup water 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 cup grated carrots, lightly packed; about 2 medium-large carrots Directions 1) Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan. Or line the pan with paper muffin cups, and grease the cups. 2) To make the filling: Place the cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on low power for 40 seconds. Stir in the sugar and flavor. Set aside. 3) To make the muffin batter: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. 4) In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and oil. 5) Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. 6) Fold in the grated carrots, stirring to combine. 7) Drop about 2 tablespoons of the batter (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here) into each muffin cup, spreading it to cover the bottom. 8) Dollop on a heaping tablespoon of filling; a level tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. 9) Cover with enough batter to fill the muffin cups quite full. The batter will come to within about 1/4" to 3/8" of the top of each muffin cup. But don't try to use all the batter; unless you have particularly deep cups, you'll have abut 1/3 cup batter left over. Bake it in a separate custard cup, if desired. 10) Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the cake part of one (not into the cream cheese filling) comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The tops of the muffins will feel firm to the touch. 11) Remove the muffins from the oven, and as soon as you're able to handle them, transfer them to a rack. If you serve the muffins warm, the filling will be molten. If you wait for them to cool, it'll firm up. Yield: 12 filled muffins plus 1 unfilled muffin. A great treat without the extra step of frosting them.  This also made them easier to transport and take to school because I didn't have to worry about the frosting getting messed up.