Carrot Cupcakes – Makes 12
1 cup Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Carrots (about 4 medium sized) finely grated
2/3 cups Oil
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs, beaten
Cream Cheese Frosting
3/4 cup Cream Cheese
3/4 cup Butter
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine the grated carrots and oil and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture into the carrot mixture, stirring until just mixed.
Add the beaten eggs and stir just until mixed, try not to over mix.
Scoop into greased or paper lined muffin tins.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, adding a few minutes as necessary. Cupcakes will be done when golden browned on top and springy to the touch.
While the cupcakes are cooling, blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add the icing sugar until smooth.
Transfer the icing into an icing bag with a tip to decorate evenly or use a spatula or knife to spread the frosting with your own free form decorative swirls.
Tips:
Toothpick test – Insert a clean unused toothpick in the centre of a cupcake, if it comes out clean, it is done.
Try using parchment cupcake liners. Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled the paper comes away from the cake very easily. Saves you from the mess of cleaning your muffin tins and lets you enjoy your a beautiful cupcake without the fuss of removing the paper before indulging.
My ‘go to’ scoop is a metal spring action ice cream scoop. It scoops about 1/4 cup of batter into each cupcake. It is a clean and efficient method of filling your muffin tins and makes them all a uniform size.
