The Yummiest Carrot Cake Muffins In All The Land

* I'm making a conscious effort to list the measurements in imperial and metric so I cover all bases, and I've also realised rather belatedly I never put how many people the recipes serve, so from now on that will also be listed at the start with the ingredients. Oven temperatures will be listed starting with gas mark followed by celcius.


Ingredients
Makes 12 small muffins

• 150g/5oz Carrots finely grated (about three small carrots)
• 100g/3 1/2oz Golden caster sugar
• 100g/3 1/2oz Sultanas
• 225g/80z Self raising flour (Doves Farm, Glutafin,Dietary Specials)
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Small lemon grated
• 2 Large eggs 
• 175ml Sunflower oil (use sunflower oil whenever possible, olive oil is too flavoursome an oil and it gives the muffins a sour sort of tang and after taste)

For the frosting

• 80g/3oz Butter cubed
• 250g/9oz Icing sugar
• 2 tbsp Orange juice (fresh or from a carton)

For the dairy free icing

• 100g/3 1/2oz Icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp Orange juice

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to Gas 6/200c and line your cupcake tray with your cases and set to one side.
• Using your own steam or a mixer powered by the national grid, beat the oil and sugar together.
• Add your eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
• Sift in your flour and cinnamon and grate in the lemon zest. Give the mixture a good mix/blitz. 
• Fold in the carrots and sultanas with a spatula, making sure they're both evenly mixed through the cake ingredients.
• Spoon into the cake cakes, until they're a two thirds of the way full, pop in the oven for 20minutes, pop a skewer in them when they're nearly done, if it comes out clean they're good to go, pop them back in for a few more minutes if the skewer is less then pristine.
• When they're done turn them out onto a wire rack and get on with making your frosting/icing.

For the frosting

• Whizz the butter and icing sugar together in a blender for 30seconds, adding in the orange juice and whizzing for a further 30 seconds until everything is well mixed and smooth. Smooth over your cupcakes and sprinkle with cinnamon.

For the dairy free icing

• In a bowl mix your icing sugar and 1-2 tbsp's of orange juice, depending on how thick you like your icing you might want to add more orange juice. Beat unil the mixture is smooth and lump free, drizzle decoratively over your cupcakes a la Jane Asher.

Enjoy with your feet in a foot spa, your head in Heat magazine, safe in the knowledge that somehow, somewhere, probably in an alternate universe, cakes are viable as one of your five-a-day.