Carrot Patch Cupcakes

Delicious strawberry “carrots” buried in Oreo buttercream frosting- a perfect cupcake for Easter!

I saw these adorable strawberry carrots online the other day, and imagined them buried in the top of cupcakes for Easter. Ah- soooo fun! Plus a strawberry and chocolate combo is always a winner in my book! These are easy, fun and a perfect way to add carrots to your cupcakes- without actually using carrots 🙂

Here is how we made these cute little treats: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

• One boxed cake mix (plus oil, water and eggs to make according to package)
• One package of Oreo Thins, crushed into crumbs
• 2 sticks (one cup) of salted butter at room temperature
• 2 sticks (one cup) of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1 cup of cocoa powder
• 24 small strawberries
• 1 package of Wilton’s Candy Melts in orange

DIRECTIONS:

• Wash and thoroughly dry 24 strawberries.
• Make carrots by melting Candy Melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until melted and smooth.
• Lay parchment paper or wax paper on countertop.
• Grasping a strawberry by its stem and leaves, dip it into candy melts, spooning melts as close to stem as possible.
• Set covered strawberry on paper to harden.
• Once all berries are covered, spoon remaining melts into a zip-top bag and seal. Clip a corner and drizzle lines over the top.

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
• Prepare cake mix as directed and divide evenly into 24 cupcake liners in tins.
• Bake according to package and cool completely.
• Make frosting by adding butters, powdered sugar and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and beating on high until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). 
• Add cocoa powder to frosting and beat on high until well- combined.
• Use a cookie scoop, or ice cream scoop to place a scoop of frosting on top of each cupcake. 
• Press this into a bowl of Oreo crumbs, turning the cupcake to make sure all edges are covered.

• Press a strawberry “carrot” into the center of each cupcake and spoon a few remaining Oreo crumbs over the bottom of the carrot, to cover it further.

• ENJOY!!!!  

My thoughts: These are delicious little cupcakes! I really love this chocolate buttercream recipe- plus they are so cute! Note that chocolate covered strawberries only stay fresh for a couple of days before they start to get a little soggy/sticky. These last a little longer because they still have their stems attached- but don’t make these cupcakes WAY in advance. I hope you get a chance to try these!!!  Enjoy! ~r

Other Easter treats you might like (click on a photo to see the recipe):