Carrot cupcake for Amani's Birthday

Following Amani’s birthday party “Barrio Latino@Minories” her birthday celebrations was not quite completed without the cake

On Tuesday (her actual birthday) I decided to surprise her by baking my most “famous” carrot cake (“famous” simply means everyone has heard me talking about it but no one has had it for at least the past 13 years) … after baking so many carrot cakes for a Brazilian café I worked  when I first arrived in London, somehow I had a super block and could never bake it again

…Until I decided to leave my fears behind  and try again … this time I swapped the traditional round tray for cupcakes which was much more fun, I also changed the recipe slightly from the old one , and frankly it turned out much better, especially with the lighter icing with some twist on the original recipe, instead of full cream cheese you half the measures with yogurt …hmmm (see below full recipe)

So now I’m back in the game , I can officially bake carrot cakes again ...

Makes: 12

Ingredients

Cake

2 large eggs

175g golden caster sugar

150ml sunflower oil

200g self-raising flour, sifted

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 medium carrots, coarsely grated

1 tsp vanilla extract

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons  (save some for topping )

Icing     

150g Light Soft Cheese

150g natural yogurt

100g icing sugar, sifted

Preparation

Step 1.Preheat the oven to 180°C . Place 12 paper muffin cases in a  muffin tin

Step 2.Put the eggs, sugar and oil in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy

Step 3.Using a baking spatula gently fold in the flour, spices, grated carrot, vanilla extract and the lemon zest, until thoroughly combined. Optional you can add some nuts of your choice

Step 4.Divide the mixture between the muffin cases then place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

For the icing :

Beat together the soft cheese , yogurt and icing sugar until smooth. Chill for 10-15 min in the fridge until ready to use.

Using a food pipe spread the icing over the cooled cakes and top with the remaining zest and some nuts