Daisy Carrot Cupcakes

Happy Mother's Day! I made these for the mothers in my life. I used natural yellow food coloring and synthetic green color. I hate using synthetic food colors, but I just a little drop for some color is probably just fine.

Daisy Carrot Cupcakes
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and grated on small holes of box grater

Mix butter, both sugars and eggs in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.

Divide the batter between cupcake tin lined with cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 (middle of the oven). Remove and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Take out the pan and let cupcakes cool completely.

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

8 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened but still cool

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat sugar and butter for 2 minutes with a hand held mixer. Add chunks of cream cheese and beat until smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated until the next day (just let it come to room temperature before using).

To decorate, I tinted a about 1/3 of frosting yellow and a little bit of the frosting green (be sure to leave plenty of frosting white)

Base: spread yellow tinted frosting on top with a butter knife. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Basket weave: use a basket weave tip to pipe 6 lines on top. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Daisies: used the the tip that looks like an oval with one side thinner than the other. Pipe a yellow dot in the middle of each flower.
Leaves: use a leaf tip to pipe leaves around the cupcake

Note: refrigirate the frosting if it gets too warm to hold its shape on the cupcake