Carrot Cake: Naked in the Morning and dressed up at night

I had other plans for my next post because veggies (not overpowered by sugar) in our treats at this early stage of the game??? That's CRAZY talk!! Well, my to do list was making a carrot cake for someone else and muffins for the week. Laziness started to do the talking! I already had grated carrots EVERYWHERE and I could avoid washing the food processor multiple times if I stuck with the same main ingredient! Can you tell that I'm a spoiled pastry chef used to handing my dishes off to dish station? I did a real quick google search and found a recipe with ingredients I already had on hand. Here is the link:

healthy applesauce carrot muffins aka carrot cake muffins

 I knew that this one might take a bit of selling and/or bribing so I decided to call them "naked" carrot cake cupcakes to make them super appealing to my son. Clothes are torture and his clothes are often found around the house and NOT on his body. I figured calling anything naked would make it his spirit food ;)

Just as I suspected, the "naked" part really sold Nathan on them. He had not one but two for breakfast! My more modest Sydney was not interested in them at all.

I felt a little bad for the kids as they watched the carrot cake walk out the door without me even giving them a scrap to nibble on, so I did a little brainstorming for that night's dessert. I had baked off some left over muffin mix in small glass dishes. I decided to dress them up or top them with cinnamon "icing" wink! wink! I grabbed some plain Greek yogurt and poured in a splash of vanilla, a bit of maple syrup, and cinnamon to taste. Sydney loved it and didn't even complain about it being different than the carrot cake from the good but not really so good old sugary days! Nathan's life was ruined by the "icing" and doubling up on the maple syrup didn't help!! He made me promise not to put it on his naked carrot cake cupcakes ever again!!

I guess we can call this a win!?! They each liked one attempt! Starting the day with veggies is always a thumbs up and getting any veggies in Sydney is a miracle and a half!!

Good luck and let me know how it goes in your house with the icing!! Love it or do they try to change the locks on you???