Cooking - Spiced Carrot & Apple Breakfast Cupcakes

I love food but I am awful at making sure I eat breakfast everyday. It's not that I don't like breakfast foods but I like things that take time - french toast, scrambled eggs, pancakes, baaaaaacon.

I'm not a morning person so I prefer to ease into the day first before thinking about breakfast - which normally means I'm ready to eat about 10am.Which normally ends up in me having a bar of chocolate or a sugary sweet cereal bar about that time - not very healthy or satisfying.

I've been meaning to make something based on a breakfast muffin for a while. These cupcakes are based around a normal sponge recipe but with less sugar, a little more flour and quite a lot of grated carrot and apple.

The best thing about these cakes is that they are incredibly moist, without too much butter or sugar. And the spicing from the nutmeg and cinnamon means you don't miss out on flavour.
I used white flour for these as I didn't have any wholewheat, but I am definitely going to use wholewheat next time.


Spiced Carrot and Apple Breakfast Cupcakes
makes about 12 cupcakes.

175g butter, unsalted, softened
150g granulated or brown sugar
2 large eggs
juice of 1/2 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 level teaspoon nutmeg
1 level teaspoon cinnamon
100g plain or wholewheat flour
100g ground almonds (or you can substitute this for more flour)
3 tablespoons of wheatgerm (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large carrots, grated
1 apple peeled, cored and grated
shredded coconut to top (optional)

Cream together the butter and sugar until fully combined, then add in the eggs and beat til light and fluffy. Add in the juice of the orange, vanilla extra and the spices.

Then fold in your flour, ground almonds and baking powder - and wheatgerm if using. Then add in your apple and carrot and mix til combined. If your mixture seems a bit dry add a little bit of milk or extra orange juice.


Spoon approx 1 1/2 tablespoons into cupcake cases on a cupcake tray (I used a tablespoon here and it wasn't enough to fill the case).
Sprinkle your coconut on top. You could also used chopped nuts here.
Bake in a medium oven for 15 - 20 minutes til golden.

If you are feeling a bit naughty a cream cheese icing woudn't be a bad thing...
Or if you are being good add in some dried fruit or oats.