MM MM MM, Carrott Cupcakes w/a Ginger Spice Cream Cheese Frosting

I love, love, carrot cake, I do...like that's my Birthday cake. I'm not into traditional birthday cakes with butter cream frosting. Even as a little girl I didn't eat birthday cake, not even my own or enjoyed the frosting at all. I prefer cream cheese frosting, I mean I abuse it!! One year, 2002, my husband, then boyfriend bought me a carrot birthday cake from a bakery in New Jersey called Calandra's Bakery. That was the beginning of my love and need for a carrot cake for my birthday every year. The following year, 2003, he decided since he knows I love coffee, he would buy me a Cappuccino cake. Ummm, although the cake was ok, it was not fabulous, and definitely not a carrot cake. Besides I think the best frosting ever, again is a nice cream cheese frosting. Not overly sweet, just enough sweetness where you can still taste the cream cheese, yum! Needless to say, he absolutely knows from that point on that I'll always prefer a carrot birthday cake. Oddly enough, as much as I adore carrot cake and have intentions on making one, I never have. Until last night that is. I'm on a quest to find or at least alter a carrot cake recipe that makes my heart sing. So last night I compared two recipes, sifted through the ingredients I like and made my first carrot cupcakes. It was good, moist, but tasted more like a muffin. Using whole wheat pastry flour due to circumstances beyond my control, (didn't feel like going to the market to pick up white flour, aah it was late), probably contributed highly to the fact of it tasting more like a scrumptious carrot bran muffin. Nice flavor, sweet w/a little spice. Reminiscent of sweet potato pancakes, I had @ Melba's in New York. Anyhoo, I'm going to keep grating carrots until I create the best carrot cupcakes, well best, relatively speaking!

PS Grating carrots have got to be the worse part about making a this cake. It took my two little sisters and I to finely hand grate enough carrots to make only 1 1/2 cups of carrots, thank goodness I opted to make only 12 cupcakes. I can't imagine how long it would have taken if I needed 3 cups. I wonder if they sell a fine grate attachment for my food processor. I have to find out as I attempt another carrot cake recipe! ❀Chyna