Cute carrot cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
- 125g coconut oil at liquid
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups (225g) wholemeal self-raising flour
- 4 medium carrots, grated
- 150g tin crushed pineapple in natural juice, drained
For the cream cheese icing:
- 50g butter, softened
- 125g cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup (150g) icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 drops natural lemon essence
For decorations:
- 3 green lolly snakes
- 12 dried apricot halves
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Fill a 12-hole muffin tray with large patty cases or spray liberally with coconut oil cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix coconut oil, eggs and maple syrup together. Next add flour to combine and then fold through carrot and pineapple.
Run a quarter-cup measure under hot water and use to evenly distribute mixture into patty pans.
Bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool.
To make the cream cheese icing, beat butter and cream cheese together until combined then sift over icing sugar and continue to beat. Add vanilla extract and lemon essence and stir through.
When the cupcakes have cooled use a flat knife to smear icing onto cupcakes. To decorate, cut each snake into quarters and then slice lengthways into two.
Fold apricots into tight tubes and wrap around snake pieces to make a carrot with a stem. Place a ‘carrot’ on top of each cupcake.
Serving Suggestions
Note
- I melted the coconut oil on the defrost setting in the microwave, then let stand to cool.
- These cupcakes keep well in the fridge for up to two days.
- Don’t fancy grating carrot? Delegate – this is an ideal beginners’ task for enthusiastic young cooks.
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- This recipe was created by Katie Rainbird for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder. You can follow Katie at Katie180.
