Hello everyone, Friday is here again and I hope you’ll all have a great weekend.

Today’s temptations are carrot cupcakes, a favorite with my girlfriends.

These carrot cupcakes are moist and very delicious, the secret is to add both grated carrot and apple to the batter. Omit the topping if you prefer, the cakes will stay moist for several days. I decorated them with a luscious white chocolate frosting.

Carrot cupcakes (yield: 20)

• 2 1/2 cups (320 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (230 g) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups (450 g) regular sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup (85 ml) warm milk
• 4-5 medium carrots, grated
• 1 medium apple, grated
• 2 1/2 oz. (75 g) walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon at least twice. Set aside.

Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat on a medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Turn the speed down to low and add the eggs, one at a time. Mix until the eggs are just blended into the mixture.

Add the flour mixture and warm milk in two additions, mix until just blended – do not overmix.

Add the grated carrots and apple and the chopped nuts. I use a microplane grater to grate the carrots and apple very finely.

Mix until everything is well blended.

Use an ice cream scoop to get equally sized cupcakes, one scoop per paper case.

Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 18 minutes.

Leave to cool completely.

I topped these with a white chocolate frosting.

• 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (200 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup (150 g) powdered sugar
• 7 oz. (200 g) white chocolate, melted and cooled
• 9 oz. (250 g) cream cheese
• seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean (optional)

Put the butter into a mixing bowl and beat until fluffy, then add the remaining ingredients and beat until everything is well blended.

It is very important that the melted white chocolate has cooled completely.

Transfer the frosting to a piping bag, I use a Wilton 1A tip here. Pipe 2 swirls on top of each cupcake.

These are just amazing, I hope you are tempted to try.

Have a great weekend, take care of each other.

Hugs from me to you, yes you.