Makes: 12 muffins or 24 cupcakes
Takes: 10 minutes + 20-25 minutes cooking time
Ingredients
9oz (250g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg
3 1/2 fl oz (100 ml) water
1 tbsp runny honey
3 1/2 oz (100g) soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
10 1/2 oz (300g) peeled, topped and tailed carrots
4 tbsp corn oil (I use light olive oil)
For the icing (optional)
1 3/4 oz (50g) light cream cheese
3 1/2 oz (100g) icing sugar
1/2 tsp orange or lemon juice
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180oC (fan oven)/190oC/Gas Mark 5 and line muffin tins or cupcake tins with paper cases.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon into a bowl.
- In a separate, large, bowl, beat the egg then mix in the water, honey, sugar and vanilla. Grate the carrot and stir into the mixture.
- Add the oil to the carrot mixture and stir well. Tip the dry ingredients into the bowl and quickly mix to just combine. (The mixture should still be lumpy and don't worry about occasional streaks of flour.)
- Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm and springy. Cool in a wire rack.
- If icing, allow the cakes to cool completely first. Mix the cheese, icing sugar and juice together thoroughly and spread a little over the top of each muffin.
They will keep well in a tin for a few days, or can be frozen without the icing.
