Get your stretchy pants on people because carrot cupcakes are here and they are here to stay. The icing is a dessert in itself – the cream cheese is completely heavenly and a natural pairing for carrot cupcakes / cake. I usually reserve this type of icing for carrot cake but now I think to myself, but WHY? It should be standard for all cakes.
But that is what Mondays are made for. Cleanses and healthy eating. Mind you, these carrot cakes are full of nutrition. They contain carrots, (duh), but LOTS of them, eggs, pecan nuts, raisins and cinnamon amongst other ingredients. It virtually is a smoothie disguised as a cupcake and hence one (or five) a day can only add to your nutrition. YES? YES!
If you have ever searched for an amazing carrot cake recipe – this is your winner right here, you just our the batter into a cake mould. I have tried and tested it a number of times. I have used it to make a carrot sheet cake as well as a double layer carrot cake and they have come out perfect every time. The recipe calls for oil instead of butter and I find those recipes tend to do better in terms of moistness. Feel free to substitute the pecan nuts with your choice of nuts and if you are not a raisin fan, you could substitute some grated apple too.
I usually decorate carrot cake recipes with a sprinkling of cinnamon and whole pecan nuts but this time, seeing as though it is Easter, I decided to indulge with mini carrot sugar decorations. Whatever you do and however they look, I can almost guarantee they are going to taste good.
I initially used the quantities for a double layer cake and it yielded 24 cupcakes and 2 mini loaves, which was more than I expected so the recipe below, has been adjusted to yield 12-14 cupcakes or 12 cupcakes and 1 mini loaf.
Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cups brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup carrots, finely grated
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup pecan nuts, chopped
- Cream Cheese Icing
- 250g cream cheese
- 50g butter
- 1 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Place cupcake cases in a cupcake tin
- In a large bowl, mix the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla essence together for 4-5 minutes.
- Sieve the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into the bowl and beat together until just incorporated
- Add in the carrots, raisins and pecan nuts and mix evenly.
- Pour into the cupcake cases
- Bake at 180°C for 40-45 minutes (inserting a toothpick into the centre of the cupcakes should come out clean)
- Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before taking them out the cupcake tin and allow to cool completely before icing.
- To make the cream cheese icing, add the butter and cream cheese to a mixing bowl and blend until smooth. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl, add the vanilla essence and blend again until smooth. Using a piping bag to ice the cupcakes or alternatively, simply ice them with a knife.
