Carrot Cake Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place 12 paper liners into each well of your standard size cupcake baking pan. Spray each cupcake liner with nonstick baking spray.
2. Measure out the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, oil, vanilla extract, and carrots.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together. Do not over mix, just stir until everything is incorporated into the batter.
5. It is helpful to use a large scoop (like an ice cream scoop) to evenly distribute the batter into each well. They will be nearly full. This will help give your cupcakes a nice puffy dome.
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
7. With an electric mixer, whisk softened cream cheese with butter, vanilla and salt. Gradually add powdered sugar on low speed until incorporated, then increase speed until frosting is smooth and creamy.
8. Scoop the frosting into a piping bag with a large round tip, and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.

For the Bunnies

1. Melt the white chocolate wafers slowly over a double boiler. Be careful not to let any moisture get into the white chocolate because it will seize up. When the white chocolate wafers have melted, remove the bowl from the double boiler, and allow it to cool at room temperature for about 3-5 minutes. Pour the white chocolate into a piping bag or small plastic bag with the corner removed and a very small round piping tip attached. Place the provided printable template on a baking sheet and cover it with parchment paper. Trace the bunnies on the template, as shown in the video, using the 12 white chocolate wafers for the bunny’s body and the 12 white chocolate chips as the bunny’s tail. Freeze the white chocolate bunnies for 5 minutes to set, and then carefully remove them from the parchment paper and place on top of the frosted cupcakes.