This week’s cupcake is a healthy one with carrots, apple, nuts, coconut and raisins. So no guilty feelings for stuffing yourself with these delicious cupcakes
I used only half (125g) sugar, but I think they would taste better with a little bit more.

ingredients (for about 18 cupcakes)
250 g all-purpose flour
250 g cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
220 g shredded carrots (2 medium sized carrots)
70 g raisins
60 g chopped walnuts
45 g unsweetened flaked coconut
1 apple – peeled, cored and shredded
3 eggs
120 ml vegetable oil
120 ml unsweetened apple sauce (very easy to make yourself by peeling, coring and cutting an apple in small pieces, add 60 ml water and heat up in a saucepan until the apple gets soft, then blend it, let it cool before using in this recipe)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175 °C.
Grease 18 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrot, raisins, nuts, coconut, and apple.
In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, apple sauce, oil, and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture, just until moistened. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.




ingredienten (voor ongeveer 18 cupcakes)
250 g tarwe bloem
250 g ruwe rietsuiker
2 theelepels bicarbonaat
2 theelepels kaneel
1/4 theelepel zout
220 g geraspte wortelen (2 medium grootte wortelen)
70 g rozijnen
60 g walnoten, in stukjes gehakt
45 g ongezoete gedroogde kokosnoot
1 appel, geschild, klokhuis verwijderd en geraspt
3 eieren
120 ml plantaardige olie
120 ml ongezoete appelcompot (kan je heel gemakkelijk zelf maken door een appel, geschild en in stukjes gesneden te koken in 60 ml water tot de appel zacht wordt, pureer ‘t en laat afkoelen alvorens ‘t te gebruiken in dit recept)
2 theelepels vanille extract

Verwarm de oven voor op 175°C.Vet 18 cupcake vormpjes in of leg papieren vormpjes in de bakvorm.

Meng in een grote kom de bloem, suiker, het bicarbonaat, kaneel en zout. Roer de wortelen, rozijnen, kokosnoot en geraspte appel erdoor.
Klop in een andere kom de eieren, de appelcompot, olie en vanille. Roer het eiermengsel doorheen het wortel-bloemmengsel tot een mooi beslag. Lepel het beslag in de cupcake vormpjes.
Bak in de voorverwarmde oven voor 23 minuten, tot een tandenstoker in ‘t midden er droog uitkomt.

This week I ‘m making Carrot Banana Cupcakes with mascarpone honey frosting, a recipe I found on one of my favorite food blogs: 101 Cookbooks. She made it as a big cake, and I had to make a few alterations since I didn’t have all the ingredients, but I think they turned out great!
I was looking for a classic carrot cake recipe, but I should warn you that this is a bit different, but still it’s delicious and probably as healthy as a cupcake could get. I also discovered that mascarpone with honey is possibly the best frosting ever, and I could just eat it like that, really no need for cupcakes

ingredients (for about 18 cupcakes)
260 g whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
100 g finely chopped walnuts
110 g unsalted butter, heated until just melted
1/2 cup dried dates, seeded and finely chopped into a paste
3 ripe bananas, mashed well
2 medium to big sized carrots grated
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (2% or lowfat is ok)
2 eggs, lightly whisked

frosting
170 g mascarpone
3 tablespoons honey (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the walnuts and set aside.
Stir the dates into the melted butter, breaking up the dates a bit.
In a separate bowl combine the bananas and carrots. Stir in the date-butter mixture, breaking up any date clumps as you go. Whisk in the yogurt and the eggs. Add the flour mixture and stir until everything just comes together. Spoon into the prepared pan. Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean in the center of the cupcake. Remove from oven and let cool.

While the cake is baking whip together the mascarpone and honey. Taste. If you like your frosting sweeter adjust to your liking. When the cake has completely cooled frost the top of the cupcakes with an offset spatula.