Recipe: Out of The Allotment – Carrot & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

As soon as we decided we were going to do our own version of the Great British Bake Off, I knew straight away what I was going to bake – after all: who doesn’t love carrot cake?!

The main thing was the presentation. After all, this was the Showstopper, so I wanted something to stand out from the crowd. I decided to go with the allotment theme after a visit to Dunhelm Mill – I needed a reason to buy the little grey crate for around the house! Then I went into the garden, and with the permission of Esme, my 2 year old daughter, re-purposed 2 of her sunflowers. The final flourish was to present my muffins in plant pots – and voila – you have “Out of the Allotment”!

Ingredients

For the muffins

• 175g light muscovado sugar
• 100g wholemeal self-raising flour
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• zest 1 orange
• 2 eggs
• 150ml sunflower oil
• 200g carrots, grated
• orange coloured sprinkles, to decorate

For the icing

• 100g butter, softened
• 300g soft cheese
• 100g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases. In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flours, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and orange zest. Whisk together the eggs and oil, then stir into the dry ingredients with the grated carrot. Divide the mixture between cases and bake for 20-22 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before icing.
2. For the icing, beat the butter until really soft, then beat in the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla. Use a palette or cutlery knife to swirl the icing on top of the cakes, then sprinkle with decorations.