Mini Carrot Cupcakes

After prayer meeting the other night, one of the elderly Marilyn mentioned that she really liked the carrot cake I made for the fellowship last year. Wow... I was shocked that she actually remembers about the carrot cake! And I promised her that I'll make it again for her! 

That's actually pretty simple, cos I've got all the ingredients I need at home, just need to get some carrots! Along with the mini cake for Marilyn, I've decided to do some mini cupcakes to take to work as well. I like mini cupcakes! Not that they only look cute, but more importantly is 'portion control'! haha... 4 mini cupcakes equal 1 normal cupcake, so you wouldn't feel bad even if you had more than 2 mini cupcakes! 

This recipe is from the Crabapple Bakery, this book is all about cupcakes! It has the best recipes inside, and I've tried most of them already! And the carrot cupcake recipe is definitely one of the winners! I never really liked carrot cake because it's dry and boring, until I found this recipe! However, I did modify it slightly!

Makes 12 normal cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups of SR flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

2.5 cup peeled grated carrot, firmly packed

1 small tin of crushed pineapple, drained

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake papers. 

2. Sift together the flour, bicarb soda and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, beat the oil, brown sugar and eggs on medium speed until thick and creamy.

3. Add grated carrot, zests and pineapple. Beat on low speed until combined.

4. Add the flour mixture and beat until combined. Do not over-beat. 

5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tray, and bake for 20 min or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from tray immediately and cool on wire rack for 30 min before frosting.

To decorate:

1/2 block of cream cheese

1-2 tbsp icing sugar (depends on your taste)

a handful of roasted walnut

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together.

2. Mix walnut, cinnamon and brown sugar in a bowl. 

3. Spread the cream cheese icing on the cake after it's cooled. Then sprinkle the walnut mixture on top.

This recipe is nice and moist, and it definitely changed my view of carrot cake! Feel free to stir through some walnuts in the batter to add in some more crunch. But I think the sprinkle of walnuts is quite enough for me! =)