BEST CUPCAKES EVER!!!!!!!

I know I have a tendency of speaking in absolutes, but I'm not kidding you when I say, "THESE ARE THE BEST CUPCAKES I HAVE EVER HAD!!!"  I was searching for a unique and FABULOUS cupcake recipe for my husband's birthday.  I have recently been caught watching the t.v. show Cupcake Wars on Food Network, so I thought that would be a good place to start researching.  My husband LOVES pineapple and spicy flavors so I knew this was a winner before I even saw the ingredients.  The 31 five-star ratings helped too.

When I pulled these babies out of the oven I kept myself from making a carnal mistake of tasting a cupcake without frosting on it.  I quickly whipped up a batch of frosting and frosted a mini-cuppy-cake (I doubled the recipe and got 24 cupcakes and 18 mini-cuppy-cakes) and popped it in my mouth.  Oh heaven!  The combination of the Chinese Five Spice and the Ginger frosting were PERFECTION in my mouth!!!  The layers of flavor punched my taste buds over and over.  Talk about BAM!  The inventor of this recipe is a GENIUS!!!!  

This is the only cake I want for my birthday until I die....and even after that I want someone to make the cake and leave it on my tombstone in an effort to keep my dead body from rising up and starting a zombie revolution!

Five Spice Pineapple Carrot Cupcakes:

Carrot Cupcake

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded carrots (about 3 to 4 medium-sized carrots)
• Frosting, recipe follows
• Crystallized ginger, as garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and Chinese five-spice powder.

In another large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, crushed pineapple, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and carrots. Then slowly add the flour mixture and beat with an electric hand mixer until just combined, about 2 minutes.

Fill the cups 3/4 full with batter. Bake until the cupcakes are set, about 20 to 22 minutes. When they can be handled safely, remove them from the muffin tins and let cool completely on wire racks before frosting. Garnish with crystallized ginger.

Frosting:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons Madagascar vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons Chinese ground ginger
• 3 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl, add the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and ginger. Blend thee ingredients with an electric hand mixer until a creamy consistency is reached, while slowly adding the powdered sugar.