Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon-Vanilla Frosting

Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon-Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Nothin' says Lovin' like Something from the Oven...So this Valentine's day I thought instead of buying roses I would bake sweet treats. I don't like carrot cakes that are overly sweet and I think frosting should also not be too sweet. That said I thought I would modify a recipe from Jill Dupleix, one of my favorite Australian chefs. The cream cheese frosting is also a modification of a traditional vanilla cream-cheese frosting. Australian recipes tend to have less sugar than their American counterparts. I have recently become fanatical about weighing everything. My measuring cups and spoons are gathering dust as I type. The results were super delicious!!



Carrot cupcakes:

• 250g A.P. flour
• 15g Baking Powder
• 2tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp orange zest
  
• 200g soft light brown sugar
• 200mL vegetable oil
• 4 eggs lightly beaten
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp fresh orange juice
• 200g raw carrot, finely grated
• 75g walnuts, chopped
• 100g currents
  

Vanilla-Lemon Frosting:

• 80z Cream Cheese
• 2 Oz unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• zest of one small lemon

Method

Preheat oven to 350F. Soak current in boiling water to allow them to plump up. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add soft brown sugar and mix well. Then add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Fold in carrots, walnuts, raisins, and orange zest.

Lightly butter or oil a 12-mould muffin tray. Spoon mixture evenly between tins. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating tray half way through (you might want to check at 25 minutes). Remove from oven and leave to cool in tray.

To make icing, beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest (much easier if everything is at room temperature). Frost with an offset spatula or back of a spoon if you dont have one.