I love carrot cake, as it is moist, sweet and with a taste of cinnamon too. I came across a recipe on Tesco Realfood for a mini version, and only 6 of them which is ideal for me, but doubling up the recipe would make 12 for those who need more.
The recipe is very easy and uses margarine, though oil could be substituted I think. In fact I used low fat spread instead of margarine and it worked very well.
The recipe also uses sultanas but any dried fruit would be a reasonable substitute for those who are not keen on sultanas.
Everything is easily mixed together, so these take very little time to make and only 20 minutes to bake. So in less than an hour you can be eating them fresh from the oven.
You could also top them with some frosting, buttercream or cream cheese frosting, for instance, but I like them just as they are.
Ingredients:
- 125g (4oz) carrots
- 100g (3½oz) sugar
- 75g (3oz) margarine
- 100g (3½oz) plain flour
- 5ml (½ fl oz) cinnamon
- 5ml (½ fl oz) baking powder
- 1 large egg(xl in USA)
- 60g (2oz) sultanas
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180F/400F
- Line a 6 hole muffin tin with paper cases
- Peel and grate the carrots into a bowl.
- Add the sugar and margarine and mix all the ingredients together.
- Sift the flour into the bowl, along with the baking powder and the cinnamon.
- Crack the egg into a bowl and beat it before adding it to the cake mixture.
- Add the sultanas and stir again.
- Divide the mixture equally between the cupcake cases using two metal spoons.
- Place the carrot cakes into the oven to bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they’re golden and piping hot throughout, a skewer poked into the middle should come out clean, and when pressed on top the cakes spring back (mine took 20 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and from the muffin tin, onto a wire rack to cool.