Surprise Them with Carrot Garden Cupcakes

It’s finally spring & it’s gorgeous out there! Surprise family & friends today with a quick-as-a-bunny outdoor party featuring Carrot Garden Cupcakes with peek-a-boo filling. Easy step-by-step semi-homemade recipe. But don’t tell! Just gracefully accept all accolades.

These fun chocolate cupcakes with a peek-a-boo filling are a fabulous spring treat that look like a carrot growing in the garden when sliced in half.

What is a semi-homemade recipe?

A semi-homemade recipe begins with store-bought items that makes the recipe quick to bake, perfection practically guaranteed, with the taste of making from scratch. Many of us have discovered how quick & easy semi-homemade recipes are, but Sandra Lee has taken it to new heights with her Semi-Homemade Cooking cookbooks* and show of the same name on the Food Network.

How is this recipe semi-homemade?

This recipe is considered semi-homemade because it uses a cake mix as a base. Why? Because cake mixes are scientifically balanced to turn out perfectly every time. (Once you’ve had a few disappointing bake-from-scratch cakes & cupcakes, you’ll realize the joy of using a mix as a beginning point.)

But don’t follow the directions on the back of the cake mix box!

We’ve added a few ingredients that work a little cupcake magic. The batter will now be thick enough to keep any add-ins (like mini chocolate chips) from sinking to the bottom. So. . . if you want to add texture to your cupcake like Oreo crumbs so it’s more like dirt, you can! Even without add-ins you will have the moistest chocolate cupcakes with this cupcake recipe.

How do you make the peek-a-boo carrot filling?

The step-by-step instructions for the filling make it oh-so-easy to recreate the recipe just as you see it.

You will need:

• Bakers bag for icing
• Tip 2A for the carrot
• Tip 352 for the leaves
• Muffin tin
• 12 Cupcake baking cups paper or silicone

Just follow the directions in the recipe. Easy-peasy. No worries!

Carrot Garden Cupcakes

Recipe by Wilton

Course: Easter Cakes and Cupcakes, Spring Recipes

Servings

Adjust servings

+

–

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Almost-homemade chocolate cupcakes that when cut in half display a peek-a-boo icing carrot in the garden.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on while cooking

Ingredients

US Metric

• 1 1 Chocolate cake mix

• 1 1 chocolate pudding mix

• 1 c 1 sour cream

• ½ c water

• ¼ c cocoa

• ¼ c vegetable oil

• 3 3 eggs

• 2 tsp 2 McCormick Pure Vanilla

• 1 1 Chocolate flavored creamy decorator icing

• 1 1 Vanilla creamy decorator icing

• 1 1 green food coloring

• 1 1 orange food coloring

• Oreo cookie crumbs

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Place baking cups in standard muffin pan.
• Beat cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, water, cocoa powder, oil, food color, eggs and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. (Do NOT follow directions on cake mix box.)
• Pour batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
• Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire rack.
• Use a spatula to evenly spread chocolate icing onto tops of cupcakes. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs. Chill until set, about 15 minutes.
• Use knife to cut out a triangular hole in center of cupcakes, almost to bottom of cupcake. Use tip 2A and orange icing to fill in center of cupcake and pipe about 1/4 inch above cupcake; pat smooth. Use tip 352 and green icing to pipe pull-out leaf of carrot tops.

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Find more Spring goodie recipes at Wilton.com.