Sunday 17 August 2008

Duckeys Healthy Carrot Cupcakes...


Cupcakes are often associated as a little naughty treat, however I have adapted a recipe so that you can eat these muffin cupcakes and not have the guilt trip!

This recipe was taken in inspiration from my Duckey Carrot Cake recipe it is near enough identical but in cupcake form!

The slight difference I had this time was that I treated myself to an electric whisk! This made my mixture so much easier to work with and obtained better results.

RECIPE: Moist Carrot Cupcakes, fluffy in texture with the crunch from walnuts and chopped fruit lightly topped with a low fat cream cheese topping decorated with carrots.

You will need:

60g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk, 2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large grated carrots
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g brown sugar
110g wholemeal flour
50g drained, canned, crushed pineapple
50g raisins
50g walnuts chopped

For the icing:

112g low-fat cream cheese softened
100g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To decorate:

Halved baby carrots and walnut pieces

To make the cake:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees

2. Remove the unsalted butter and eggs from the refrigerator to allow them to warm to the room temperature, in a bowl add the butter and sugar


3. In a mixing bowl and beat until creamy

4. Gradually add the egg yolk and beat until the mixture becomes very fluffy (save the egg white)



5. Then whisk the egg white in a separate bowl until stiff peaks are formed! My new whisker was great and did this in no time!



6. Add the egg whites to the mixture


7. Whisk in the cinnamon and nutmeg until the mixture is bouncy!


8. Then add the grated carrot to the mixture


9. Once mixed in add the pineapple, sultanas and chopped walnuts


10. Place the batter into the mold, I used one of these great flexy molds it was really easy and clean to use.


11. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes


12. To make the icing add the sugar, lemon, low fat cream cheese into a bowl and whisk until thick and creamy. To make mine a little different I poked a hole in the middle of my cupcakes and added some of this sauce.

13. Once dry I covered the top with the icing and added half a baby carrot to decorate along with some chopped Walnuts.


These make great little tea cakes or something to impress your guests with when you have company. Better still they taste even better in the fridge so you can keep them for longer.

Due to the moistness of the pineapple in the mixture the cake stays moist for longer.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

These look fantastic and carrot cake is Helen's absolute favourite!

I'm going to end up spoiler her too much if I keep reading these great ideas on your blog!

Keep writing though!!!

Rachel Ducker said...

Carrot cake is my favourite too! Thats why i really wanted to adapt the recipe and make it healthy!

Plus the muffins = smaller portions!

They are great with some low fat yogurt or fresh fruit!

Duckey x

eatme_delicious said...

Mmm those look good and so cute with the carrot on top!

Rachel Ducker said...

Thank you i thought it gave a different affect!

Duckey x

Chef Jeena said...

Lovely healthy cupcakes duckey!

Anonymous said...

Hey Duckey - I'm making these tonight as a "welcome home" for Helen who's been in Amsterdam with Kate French since the weekend!

Hope she likes the surprise and I dont mess it up! I'll post about it (if they come out OK!)