Carrot patch fairy cakes recipe | Good Food

Fairy cakes topped with iced carrot decoration and mini malteser bunnies

75ml vegetable oil
95ml low-fat natural yogurt
1 egg
beaten
1 orange
zested
150g light brown soft sugar
200g self-raising flour
½ tsp cinnamon
1 carrot
(120g) coarsely grated
16 Maltesers Mini Bunnies (white or milk, both work well)

For the strawberry carrots

orange gel food colouring
125g low-fat Greek yogurt
8 strawberries
sliced into quarters (you can slice them into eights if they're very large)

For the icing

100g cream cheese
at room temperature
100g low-fat Greek yogurt
at room temperature
1½ tbsp maple syrup
green gel food colouring

Method

step 1
Start by making the strawberry ‘carrots’. Mix 1 tsp orange food colouring with the yogurt in a bowl. Dip in the strawberry quarters, keeping the green top exposed, then put on a tray lined with baking parchment. Freeze for 1 hr.
step 2
Keep the remaining yogurt and add a little more food colouring to get a darker shade of orange. Pour into a small piping bag. Once the strawberries have frozen, snip off a small cut in the piping bag and drizzle the strawberries with a thin zig-zag. Return to the freezer until you’re ready to ice the cakes.
step 3
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a cupcake tray with 16 small cupcake cases and set aside. Whisk the vegetable oil, natural yogurt, egg, orange zest and a small pinch of salt together until well combined.
step 4
In a larger bowl, stir the sugar, flour and cinnamon together, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold to combine. Stir in the carrot. Spoon a heaped tbsp of the mixture into each cupcake case and bake for 13-15 mins until springy, risen and golden. Remove from the tins to cool on a wire rack.
step 5
For the icing, whisk all the ingredients together until it's smooth and holds a small peak. You can transfer to a piping bag for a neater finish to the cupcakes. Keep in the fridge until you’re ready to decorate.
step 6
To assemble, pipe the top of each cupcake with about 2 tsp icing. Put a decorated strawberry carrot on top of the icing, then arrange a Maltesers Mini Bunny on top too. Best eaten on the day they’re made.