Fruity Mini Carrot Cakes

When I first time heard about carrot cake I was sceptical – carrot and cake - it just didn’t make sense to me. Carrot is a vegetable and a cake is a cake and I couldn’t put them together.  It took me few years before I got courage to try it. And you know what the first thing came to my mind? Why on earth I didn’t try it earlier??

There are probably hundreds or may be thousands carrot cake recipes out there but for me a good carrot cake should consist of dried apricots, raisins and a bit of a spice. And because carrot and dried fruit adds sweetness to the cake, you don’t really need to use a lot of sugar or in my case I omitted sugar altogether and instead added honey.

With all the goodness what’s in the cake, there is no need to feel guilty when reaching for the second (or third!) helping! Right? 

So who can say NO to a moist carrot cake? Certainly not me : )  

Prep time : 15-20 min

Cooking time : 30-40 min

(Makes 6 mini cakes)

Ingredients:

60 ml sunflower oil

80 ml honey

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 (approx. 120g) large carrot, grated

1 medium apple, peeled, cored and grated

100 raisins

50 g prunes, chopped (optional)

60 g apricots, chopped

½ - 1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon baking powder

250 g wholemeal flour

Method:

In a large bowl mix oil and honey. Whisk in beaten eggs then add carrot, apple and dried fruit, mix well.

Sift in cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. If there’s any bran left in the sieve then add it as well. Gently stir until everything comes together; don’t overmix.

Spoon mixture onto 6 greased muffin tins. Bake in the 170°C preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until cooked. Let it cool before turning out.