Makes 24
Delicious little Carrot Cupcakes topped with a two-tone cream cheese orange flavoured icing. They also freeze like a dream.
Products in this recipe

Carrot Cake, Vanilla Icing Kit

You will need

1 x 595 g Ina Paarman’s Carrot Cake Mix
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup (60 g) butter, melted
½ cup (125 ml) canola oil
½ cup (125 ml) buttermilk, warmed

125 g butter, at room temperature
250 g medium or low fat cream cheese or smooth cottage cheese
zest of 1 orange
3 T (45 ml) orange juice
1 x 250 g Ina Paarman’s Vanilla Icing Kit
orange food colouring

Method

Cupcakes

Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 180°C.
Line 2 x 12 cup muffin pans with paper cups. 4 cm base x 2 cm height.
Decant the dry flour mix, from the foil pack, into a bowl. Add 1 T (15 ml) of the measured melted butter and toss it with the flour (this ensures moist, light textured baked cupcakes).
Beat eggs and remaining melted butter together for 30 seconds on high speed until well blended. Carry on beating while adding the oil.
Add warmed buttermilk and beat briefly on high speed.
Add carrot and pineapple mixture and beat it in.
Add the flour mix and gently fold it in by hand with a spatula. Mix until combined. It is important not to overmix.
Divide the mixture between the paper cups.
Place in oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes.
Place cupcakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing

Cream butter until soft. Add cream cheese and beat until smooth.
Add orange juice and beat in briefly.
Add Icing Mix and fold into mixture or beat in on slow speed until evenly blended.
Add a little more juice to soften if the icing is too firm.
Divide the icing. Add orange food colour to ⅓ of icing. Fit a piping bag with a star nozzle.
Fill one half of the bag with white icing along the length of the bag. Add the orange icing alongside the white icing.
Top the cupcakes with this 2-tone icing as shown in pic.
Arrange cupcakes on a cake stand and scatter orange zest over.