This recipe is probably one of my best recipes ever - it is made of fresh ingredients and smells and tastes delicious. I bake these muffins very often, especially on birthday and other celebrations and people always ask me if I could give them the recipe - so here it is!
For 16 muffins you will need:250g flour (I usually use 100g all purpose flour and 150g rye flour)
75g sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp baking powder
75 ml vegetable oil
1 orange, juiced
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
4 small carrots (or 2 large ones)
2 small apples (or 1 large one)
The recipe is easy - let's start with the dry ingredients. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and spices into a mixing bowl and whisk it a little bit. Now peel your apples and carrots and grate them, I recommend grating 3 carrots only, because sometimes the 4th one is just too much and will make the batter too thick, which we don't want to, so wait with adding it until you see how the batter looks. I usually grate it on grater on the side which has large holes in it, because it takes less time and you really can't tell the difference once the muffin is baked. Add grated apples and carrots into a mixing bowl and stir it with the dry ingredients.
Now it's the time for wet ingredients. Juice the orange and pour the juice into the bowl. Crack the eggs and add them into a bowl too, followed by the vegetable oil. Don't forget to add vanilla extract! Once you have all your ingredients in the bowl, give it a good stir. If the batter is not too thick, add the last carrot. The batter should be the consistency that allows you to scoop it into the cupcake tray with no difficulties. But before you do scoop it in there, make sure you got your cupcake lining prepared in the tray - or you can be old-fashioned like me and just butter the tray so that the batter wont stick to it.
Preheat the oven on 190°C and bake the muffins for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes they should be done, but before you pull them out of the oven, perform the toothpick test on them, because not all the ovens bake as fast. The toothpick test should tell you, whether your muffin is completely baked inside - just take a toothpick and stick it in the middle of one of your muffins. If you pull the toothpick out of the muffin and nothing sticks to it,muffins are good to go!
Once your muffins cool down, it is time to frost them!
For the frosting you will need:
1/2 unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk (cooked in advance)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
vanilla extract
REMEMBER! All the ingredients have to be the room temperature!
First of all, you will want to cook the milk in advance as this allows you to store the frosting for longer period of time. Don't forget to give milk enough time to cool down to room temperature - if there's a skin forming on the milk, remove it. Now take your sifter and a bowl and sift confectioners sugar. You want to have your frosting as smooth as possible, that is why you must get rid of those sugar lumps. Once your sugar is sifted, it is time to get your beater and get the work done. Start by whisking the butter itself - give it some time because you want the frosting to be fluffy and smooth - I usually whisk it for 5 minutes on low speed. Now start adding sugar and milk - add only one at the time and give it a good whisk again. I usually add a spoonful at the time and then whisk for 30s before adding another. In general, you won't probably use all the milk and sugar, depends on how sweet and thick you want your frosting to be. I found out that I usually use like 3/4 of the given amount of sugar and 1/2 of the milk I prepared, but it depends on purpose you are going to use the frosting for (if you just arrange it on the top as I did, it can be thicker, since you will be adding less of it, but if you are going to frost it by using the plastic bag and a tip, you will want the frosting to be lighter because you aregoing to add more of it). Once your frosting has the desired consistency and texture, add few drops of vanilla extract and whisk for a bit and you are done.
Remember that the key to making good frosting is patience and having all the ingredients the room temperature.
