Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

This is an over-the-top American cupcake recipe but has been tweaked for New Zealand measurements. These cute cupcakes will certainly wow the tea party and the goodness of carrots makes it just right.

Serves 12

You need:

60g white chocolate

1 punnet (250 gram) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/8 cups white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rice bran oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups shredded carrots

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup chopped walnuts

How to:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

In small saucepan, melt white chocolate over low heat. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in white chocolate, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and orange extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Mix in heavy cream.

Beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups.

Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before topping with icing, mini icing carrots or sprinkle of remaining walnuts.