Chocolate Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

These only exist because I found a bag of Iddy Biddy Bunnies at the grocery store.

They're so tiny. And adorable.

Sixty fit inside one little bag.

I passed on them several times at the store, and yesterday I just couldn't resist anymore.

Because of these bunnies, I made chocolate carrot cake. Only because of these bunnies.

I now have a ridiculous amount of chocolate carrot cake frosted with cream cheese icing only because I wanted to put these bunnies on top.

This is a really, really good problem to have. It's moist and delicious, and the cocoa and chocolate chunks add something a bit different to your typical carrot cake.

I would recommend you do the same and whip yourself up a batch of these. Quickly, because Easter is just around the corner.

P.S. If you're looking for other tasty Easter treats, look at these tasty Chocolate Peanut Butter nests!

Zucchini Carrot Coconut Cream Cheese Muffins

Blue Sky Bakery has me spoiled. I used to think a really great muffin could be just one flavor.

Blueberry. Pumpkin. Lemon. Chocolate. Chocolate chip.

Not anymore.

Every Blue Sky muffin has at least three different components to it. On any given day, they'll have blueberry-pineapple bran muffins, pumpkin-apple walnut muffins, and chocolate chip, peach and raspberry muffins, to name just a few favors I've seen (and tried).

They're unique and complex, and they're certainly worth the lines on the weekends. The only downside is, they don't open until after I'm at work on weekdays.

So I had to attempt a muffin of my own that Blue Sky would be proud of.

Here it is: a zucchini and carrot muffin, stuffed with barely sweetened cream cheese and topped with toasted coconut flakes.

Every bite has something a little different to it, either with taste or with texture, and I think the appearance is just delightful.

Best of all, I froze all of these muffins after baking them, and they reheat in the microwave in about 45 seconds. That means they fit into my breakfast schedule.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Easter has got to be one of my favorite holidays.

I mean, you wake up in the morning and get to hunt for a whole basket of chocolate and treats that's just for you to enjoy.

Dark chocolate bunnies. Cadbury mini eggs. Coconut nests. Jelly beans.

And the list goes on. Everyone has their preferences.

As a kid, I was in heaven. I could sneak off to my Easter basket whenever I wanted and dig in.

I just had to use a little moderation because I knew I had to have room for a sweet-filled Easter brunch.

That's where muffins like these come in. I love carrot cake with Easter brunch, but when you add in cream cheese danishes and chocolate croissants it gets to be a bit much for one day.

These muffins have almost everything I love in carrot cake (minus the cream cheese icing and some of the sweetness), but they're much healthier. They're loaded with carrots and walnuts. They're absolutely divine warm.

If you serve these for Easter brunch, your guests will still have room for dessert. If you make them just for yourself, you'll be extra delighted. These freeze incredibly well and are easy to reheat in the mornings for breakfast.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Walking into Blue Sky Bakery on the weekends is always a treat. I say weekends because they don't open early enough on weekdays for me to make it there before work. That's probably a good thing.

You go to Blue Sky for the muffins. For $2.25, you get your choice of fresh-baked muffins. Pumpkin apple walnut. Zucchini raspberry chocolate. Mango blueberry. Triple berry bran. Pineapple coconut cream cheese. The New York Times describes them as having a ray of sunshine in every bite.

And the list goes on. Nearly every time I visit, they've got a new muffin in the rotation.

Without question, my favorite muffin they offer is the pumpkin muffin filled with chocolate chips and cream cheese. When you order it warm, the cream cheese is still soft, and your teeth sink right through it. The cream cheese is unsweetened, which makes it a perfect contrast to the bits of bittersweet chocolate filling the muffin.

Here's my attempt at recreating their muffin (and giving you the chance to try them if you don't happen to live within walking distance). They're a bit smaller than the true Blue Sky muffins, due to the capacity of my muffin tin, so I couldn't squeeze quite as much cream cheese inside as I would have liked. If your muffin tin is larger, go crazy with the cream cheese. It's hard to have too much.

True to the Blue Sky style, I left my muffins wrapper free. They just look a bit more natural that way.