Carrot Cupcakes

Easter is nearly here- one of my favourite times of the year!

My boys and I had so much fun making some carrot cake cupcakes, complete with handmade wrappers.



Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Cake:
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrot

To decorate:
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon hot water
50g plain chocolate biscuits (approximately four biscuits)
12 dried apricots
12 mint leaf lollies

Line or grease a 12 cup muffin tray. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Place the sugar, eggs and oil in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.

Sift the flour, baking soda and cinnamon into the egg mixture and combine. Fold in the grated carrot.

Spoon the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cases. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.



Now it is time to decorate! In a bowl, mix together the icing sugar, orange juice and hot water to form a smooth, thick icing.

Crush the chocolate biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, or pulse in the food processor. Place in a shallow bowl.



Ice each cupcake and then roll in the crushed biscuits.



To assemble the carrots, cut a slit in the top of each dried apricot. Cut the mint leaf at the widest point, and push the top half into the dried apricot.



Use a small knife to make a hole in each cupcake, and then gently push the dried apricot into the cupcake. You can serve these as is or use some pretty Easter paper wrappers.



I cut these wrappers using the Cricut. For detailed instructions please click here to visit my Close To My Heart craft blog!



Here are the finished cupcakes nestled in their grass wrappers. These were a great treat at my scrapbook workshop over the weekend, and they would make a cute centerpiece for your next Easter themed event!