Easter is coming and thought I’d post some ideas for the holiday. I’ll start with these lovely cupcakes that you can dress up as you like – you can find more ideas here. I chose a carrot cake, my hot-weather-resistant chocolate “fudge” frosting and apricot pureé for the filling. For embellishing I used store-bought mini chocolate eggs and Jordan almonds, and cupcake tags from Green Beansie Ink.

CARROT CUPCAKE

INGREDIENTS

4  medium carrots, diced (raw)
4 eggs
250g (2 cups) flour
400g (2 cups) sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
120ml (½ cup) vegetable oil

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180^oC and line two cupcake tins* with paper cups.
Mix carrots, eggs and oil in a blender or food processor. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the carrot mixture.
Using a jug** pour the batter into the cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

APRICOT PUREÉ

200g dried apricots
water

METHOD

Put the apricots in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, discard most of the water (leave about 1cm of water) and puree*** them.

ASSEMBLING

Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack. Core the cupcakes and fill them with the apricot pureé. Cut lids from the cores and apply to the cupcakes. Using a piping bag, make a fudge swirl on top of each cupcake and decorate them as you like.

NOTES: Originally this cupcake is a traybake recipe from my mum’s notebook. Either way, the result is a very moist and spongey cake.
*I got 20 cupcakes.
**Generally I use an ice cream scoop but this batter is so liquid that I found it easier to dispense it from a jug.
***I used a hand blender to puree the apricots so that I had fewer parts to wash afterwards.