Jennifer Bernstein is a Brooklyn-based blogger (Local Appetite) and maker of some really good-looking food.

I’m sick of cupcakes. Sick of pastel frosting decoratively piped on top of little cakes. Sick of the buzz of the newest cupcake bakery or the requisite oohs and awws when they show up at your birthday party. So, why did I spend Saturday morning carefully decorating the tops of a batch of carrot cake cupcakes I baked the night before? Because, whether I like it or not, people like their birthday cake in cupcake form these days, and there’s nothing more I like better than hearing squeals of joy over my food.

I was a late-comer to the allure of carrot cake. As a child, I thought people were loco to put vegetables in their cake. When I got over that, I was happy to learn it doesn’t taste a thing like raw carrots, but more like a subtle spice cake. It is moist and dense, with a texture half-way between your basic yellow cake and a slice of pound cake. I’m not a nutrionist, but I’d also like to think that all those carrots add some hidden health benefits, so feel free to consider this part of a balanced diet. It was this healthy image that had me volunteer to bake a carrot cake for my nephew’s first birthday picnic. But, of course, times being what they are, cupcakes were requested. I obliged, because if nothing else, cupcakes are easier to serve at a picnic.