Here’s a Christmas spin on a classic – the carrot cake. I never used to like carrot cake that much when I was younger. I only ever wanted the cream cheese frosting. I would claim to like carrot cake just to get the frosting and smother the cake in it to make it more acceptable to my taste buds.

Obviously, my taste buds have changed because now I love carrot cake, even with just a small amount of frosting. Being realistic, I still want that cake to have the best cream cheese frosting on it. I also don’t want raisins in my carrot cake. They just ruin the texture and the flavour for me. I won’t get started on this again, because I had a raisin rant when I made my cinnamon brioche.

So, let’s move on.

However, as we move on, we won’t talk about the mess that is my cupcake tray. I didn’t take a photo of the cupcakes before they went in the oven because I got batter everywhere. You can sort of see the carnage in the post-oven photo. But forgive me, I’m definitely an amateur.

You have to also forgive me because so many of the delicious recipes you’re seeing this month are done late at night. Usually, while I’m typing up an essay, or reading some research for said essay. I’ve stayed up later in the past 3 weeks than I’ve done in the last two years. I love going to bed early and getting 8 – 9 hours of sleep. I haven’t done it in a really long time, and my body is starting to suffer. I’m needing naps at lunch time, I’m generally a zombie at points throughout the day.

But, school is over for the holidays, and I can finally turn off my alarm. And for ten glorious days, you’ll be getting recipes galore from me (I hope).

As we get closer to Christmas Day itself, I realise that means I’ll be giving you all a bit of a break on the blog, once we hit January. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here. I just won’t be posting every day like I have been in December, but I will be as active as I can. And if there are any recipes you’d like me to try, please get in touch. Half of the recipes on this blog are inspired by ideas from other people – even just conversations had about food without the blog being a topic. So, send me your ideas. I’ll do my best.

A word about these carrot cupcakes. You can make them any time of year, and change the colour of the dye to match whatever holiday or event you’re making them for. But, seeing as it’s Christmas, I went with the traditional red and green.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:
1 medium carrot, grated (1.5 heaped cups)
120 grams plain flour
170 grams brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
158 ml sunflower/vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten

For the frosting:
50 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
300 grams icing sugar
125 grams cream cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a cupcake tin.
2. In a bowl, mix together the oil and grated carrot.
3. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.
4. Add the carrot mixture to the flour, and mix until just combined.
5. Add the eggs and stir through the mixture (the fewer times the better).
6. Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the cupcakes as every oven is different. Check for a golden brown colour and spongy tops.
7. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool.
8. For the frosting, blend the butter and icing sugar together. Add the cream cheese and beat until soft and smooth.
9. If choosing to dye the frosting, separate into bowls of equal size, add your colouring and mix well. Scoop frosting into a piping bag, and pipe onto the cupcakes.