Prep
30 minsBake
20-25 minsServes
12Difficulty
Medium About
Wonderfully spiced and moist carrot cakes with a tangy cream cheese swirl and plenty of walnuts. Yum!
For the cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with large cupcake/muffin liners.
Mix oil, buttermilk, sugars, vanilla and egg in a large jug. Add in the carrots and stir to combine. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and spices. Add in the dry ingredients and fold to combine. Tip in the broken walnuts and fold in.
Spoon or scoop the cake mixture evenly between the cases. Bake for 20-25 minutes until springy to touch and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing and decoration
Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl for at least 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add in the sugar and vanilla and beat again until fluffy.
Soften the cream cheese a little with a spoon or spatula, then add it to the buttercream and beat to combine. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
Pipe swirls of cream cheese icing over each of the cupcakes, then decorate with some extra chopped walnuts and a sprinkling of extra cinnamon if you wish. Enjoy!
Ingredients – 16 items
1
For the cupcakes
Oil
neutral flavour such as vegetable
Buttermilk
Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar
Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Light Brown Sugar
Vanilla
Large eggs
Carrots
grated
Plain flour
Baking powder
Bicarbonate soda
Salt
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cloves
Ground cardamom
or 1/2 tsp if grinding fresh
Walnuts
broken into chunks
For the cream cheese icing and decoration
Unsalted butter
room temp
Icing sugar
Full fat cream cheese
Vanilla
Walnuts
chopped
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