11 January, 2018
Carrot Cupcakes
It’s that time in January when the New Year’s resolutions of being healthy are starting to wear off and you may feel in need of cake! Not to worry, here is a recipe for Carrot Cupcakes with orange frosting. In truth, these cupcakes aren’t really for the dieters! but they are made with brown sugar and lots of carrot so are leaning towards being a healthy alternative (sort of!)
I’ve taken the cake recipe from one of my favourite books ‘Baking Magic’ by Kate Shirazi and have added my own orange frosting topping. Kate’s recipe is for 10 muffin sized cakes but with the following quantities I tend to get 15 or 16 cupcake size cakes. It’s a very different recipe to most of my other cupcakes, as it uses vegetable oil, which makes the cake batter very runny and potentially quite messy to distribute between the cake cases. My top tip is to pour the batter from a jug into the cases rather than try to spoon it in. The cakes are very moist so it’s best to make them a day or so ahead of when you plan to eat them. I’m a huge fan of the Christmassy spices, so the cinnamon and nutmeg really hit the spot for me.
Ingredients
- 175g soft brown sugar
- 175ml sunflower oil
- 3 large free-range eggs
- 150g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 225g grated carrot
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180*C and line muffin tins with cake cases.
- Mix the sugar and oil in a large bowl.
- Add the eggs and mix well.
- Sift in the dry ingredients, and beat everything together until really well combined.
- Next add the grated carrot and stir through well.
- Distribute the mixture between the cake cases.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (in my oven they are usually ready at 18 mins), if the tops look like they might be starting to darken whilst the innards are still raw, cover with baking paper and cook a little longer.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Orange frosting recipe (makes enough to decorate up to 18 cupcakes)
- 75g unsalted butter (softened)
- 150g full fat cream cheese
- 500g icing sugar (sifted) – add a little more if frosting is too runny or contains lumps
- 1 1/2 tsp orange oil (as used in my chocolate orange cupcakes recipe)
Mix ingredients together in a free standing mixer, scoop into a piping bag and decorate the cakes. I use a Wilton 1A or 2A tip to achieve the finish that I like to see on a carrot cake. Decorate with mini carrot decorations or toppings of your choice.
Enjoy!
