Don’t yell at me. I’ve finally made a chocolate & carrots cupcake! This is it, folks!

I’m so excited to share this recipe with you. It definitely rivals the black bean cupcakes in moistness. Plus, the decadent peanut butter frosting on top makes it the perfect balance of naughty and nice! You’ll appreciate the niceness when you read the ingredients!

As an added bonus, the cupcakes aren’t made with any oil or butter. Just substitute apple sauce for that one! Thanks to Musselman’s natural unsweetened apple sauce, these cupcakes came to life.

Boy, do I wish I could have another bite out of this right about now!

Do yourselves a favor and go make these cupcakes and head down this page to enter to win your very own pack of Musselman’s apple sauce!

Healthier Chocolate Cupcakes

slightly adapted from Yammie’s Noshery

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup Musselman’s Natural unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 cup finely shredded carrot (about two large carrots)

How-To

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and spray with canola oil. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, stir the flours, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder together.
4. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Pour into the prepared muffin tin, filling a little more than 3/4 the way full.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Servings: 10 cupcakes

Peanut Butter Frosting

slightly adapted from Jackie Geilhart

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4-1 cup of creamy natural peanut butter (I use skippy)

How-To

1. With your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy.
2. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
3. Beat until blended completely.
4. Carefully stir in the peanut butter until just mixed. Don’t over mix.
5. Pour into a pastry bag or use a knife to decorate the cupcakes!

Giveaway Closed

Winner: Heather who says, ”When I was a kid, it was applesauce with loads of cinnamon and a dash of sugar. Now, applesauce is for replacing some or all of the oil in baking recipes!”

Giveaway:

Prizes: 

• Musselman’s Cinnamon Apple Sauce single-serve cups
• Musselman’s Natural Apple Sauce multi-serve jar
• Musselman’s Apple Sauce single-serve cups
• Special recipe cards

To Enter: 

(Mandatory): Leave a comment on this post telling me how you enjoy your apple sauce or just say hey!

Deadline: May 18, 2012 at 11:59am Eastern Time

Extra Entry:

• Become a follower on twitter (current or new followers)! Leave a separate comment telling me you are a follower.
• Tweet about this post saying something like:
  I want to win a giveaway from @musselmansapple while I drool over @chocandcarrots cupcakes! http://bit.ly/IxCJKz
  Leave a separate comment telling me that you tweeted.

No purchase necessary to enter. Prizes will only be shipped within the United States. Winner will be selected at random by chocolate & carrots using Random.org. All entries received after the giveaway closing day and time will not be considered. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If the winners do not reply within 24 hours, another winner(s) will be selected. Giveaways will be mailed to the winners’ address.  This giveaway has been sponsored by Musselman’s. This is a sponsored post.  I received a two packs of Musselman’s natural single-serve cups and one mulit-serve pack as compensation.  All opinions stated are my own.