Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Eeep-my first blog. Very exciting!!

I got the inspiration from this recipe

These were for my mother-in-lasw's birthday bash and I wanted to do something a bit exciting. I bought some paper muffin cases and also some super cute icing carrots to go on top. 


Also (for me) one piece of cupcake making equipment I could not do without is an ice cream scoop. I saw the tip on TV months ago and it's so good. One scoop per case so they are all the same size and no getting messy with spoons..such a fab tip!!

INGREDIENTS:
(I made 24)


350g brown caster sugar
400g self raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp of mixed spice
Zest of 2 oranges
Juice of 1 orange
4 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
400g carrots (grated)


ICING 
(This is the amount on the link which is meant to cover 12 but there is LOADS so easily covered the 24 I made)


100g soft butter
300g soft cheese (Philly kind)
100g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract


METHOD:
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4


Line 2x12-hole muffin tins with cases.


In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flour, bicarb, mixed spice and orange zest.


Whisk together the eggs oil and orange juice.


Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and add the grated carrot. 


Divide the mixture between cases using the amazing food gadget that is the ice cream scoop. Just scoop it like it was ice cream-easy!! 


Bake for 20-22 mins until a cocktail stick poked in comes out clean. 


Cool on a wire rack before icing.

For the icing:
Beat the butter until really soft.

Beat in the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla.

Then blob (very technical term) the icing onto the top of the cakes. Each took one and a half teaspoons. I then decorated with the cute little icing carrots.

They then have to be kept in the fridge because of the soft cheese. They turned out amazing. So soft and fluffy. Only thing...if I were doing them again I'd put the carrots on just before serving as they all seemed to go for a walk in the 2 days they were in the fridge and leave a snail trail of orange and green streaks in the icing -boo!! But they still tasted the same :)

Here they are on the plate showing the carrot skid marks ;) in all their glory