Best Ever Carrot Cupcakes

It’s Eater eve and I wanted to post something special and what else could be a perfect fit but for rich moist carrot cakes. I wait for an occasion to bake some goodies and it’s always a challenging task to narrow down to one favorite. But there is no confusion for Easter – it’s always lovely carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I love cakes with fruits in them as I feel it gives it a natural flavor and sweetness and makes the cake extra fluffy and moist. After years of experimenting with various recipes, I finally ended up with this best ever carrot cake recipe. It has the perfect amount of sweetness, extremely moist and fluffy and is rich with chopped nuts. The taste of carrots and nuts is extremely enhanced in this recipe because of the addition of a dash of cinnamon. Cinnamon is a magic spice in cakes that greatly enhances flavors. Another taste enhancer in this recipe is the addition of coconut oil – yes you read that right, Coconut oil! Coconut oil not only gives your desserts a nutty flavor but also gives extra moisture and fluffiness (coconut oil acts as a moisturizer not only for skin but for cakes also lol!). We are at the fag end of quarantine (Covid 19 lockdown 2020) and as I baked these cupcakes I was constantly reminiscing Easter last year with my cousin and kids at Bangalore. We had an amazing spread for Easter and baked a carrot cake with the kids. It was the bestest Easter ever! (flipping through some old pics, sighs!). Back to the recipe, I have made some changes to my regular carrot cake – I am making carrot cupcakes. I feel cupcakes are kids’ favourite and easy to store and therefore the modification. Also I am not using a cream cheese frosting today because I feel cream cheese is still not an easily available commodity in Chennai. If you can get your hands on cream cheese, you can make a cream cheese frosting for this carrot cupcake recipe.

Finely shredded carrots combined with chopped nuts, cake batter and a dash of cinnamon!

Ingredients

(This recipe makes 15 cupcakes)

• Plain flour – 200 g

• Eggs - 2

• Butter – 150 g

• Coconut oil – 50g

• Sugar – 100g

• Brown sugar - 100g

• Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp

• Carrots – 300g shredded

• Vanilla extract – 1 tbsp

• Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp

• Milk – ¼ cup

• Chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews) – 100g

• Raisins – 30g

Buttercream frosting

• Butter – 100g

• Icing sugar – 400g

• Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

• Milk – 2 tbsps

Method

1. Bring eggs and butter to room temperature.

2. Combine sugar, both white and brown, eggs, vanilla extract, butter and oil and whisk until combined.

3. To this sift in flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Adjust the cake batter consistency with milk.

4. Fold in the shredded carrots. Add raising and chopped nuts. Mix to incorporate.

5. Scoop the batter into cupcake molds as required (filling only 3/4th the cup) and bake at 170 degrees Centigrade for 10 to 12 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

6. Cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream frosting

1. Combine softened butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk well to form stiff peaks. If the frosting is too thick, add a few drops of milk to soften it.

2. Let it cool in the fridge for 5 mins.

3. Transfer to a frosting bag and swirl away.

*Note

• Nuts: you can use nuts of your choice. Walnuts work best for carrot cake.

• Every oven is different so you need to constantly keep watching the cakes to see when they are completely baked and later stick to the same timing as the first batch.

• You can replace brown with white sugar or vice versa. Brown sugar adds dark color and depth of flavor.

• You can skip cinnamon if you are not a fan of the spice. Nutmeg also works just fine.

• You can replace coconut oil with a flavorless vegetable oil also.