Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted and line a muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
2. **To toast the pecan nuts, spread nuts in a single layer on a baking tray, bake for 8-10 minutes in pre-heated oven until darker in colour and fragrant. Leave to cool then pulse a few times in a food processor or roughly chop with a sharp knife to use in the recipe.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
4. Grate carrot in food processor with the course shredder. Tip grated carrot into a bowl and set aside.
5. Fit processor bowl with the dough tool (this looks like a non-sharp plastic version of the blade tool) then tip into the bowl the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Pulse to mix.
6. Add the dry ingredients and pulse a few times until mixed. Scrape down the sides of the processor bowl if needed.
7. Add the grated carrot and chopped pecan nuts and pulse a few more times to combine.
8. Divide batter evenly between cupcake papers, then bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
9. Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then remove from muffin tin and leave to cool completely on wire rack.
10. For the frosting, beat the butter in a small bowl with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add the cream cheese then beat until combined. Add the icing sugar and vanilla then beat on low speed just until combined, then increase speed to max and whisk until frosting is thick.
11. Spoon frosting into a large piping bag fitted with your choice of large piping tip, then pipe swirls of cream cheese frosting on cooled cupcakes.
12. Decorate with a candied carrot ribbon, or other decorations of your choice. (Toasted pecan nuts or store-bought royal icing mini carrots also look great!)
13. ***To make candied carrot ribbons, peel 2 small or 1 medium carrot (the thinner the carrot, the thinner the curls.)
14. Use the vegetable peeler to peel long ribbons of carrot. (Don’t turn the carrot, peel from one side only.) Set aside.
15. In a medium sized saucepan, mix 180ml water with 150g granulated white sugar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then add the carrot strips. Lower heat to medium and leave to gently boil for 15-20 minutes, they should look glossy and start looking translucent. From time to time, give the carrot a stir, separating them so they cook evenly.
16. While the carrots are cooking, pre-heat oven to 100°C / 80°C fan assisted. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
17. Once the carrots have finished cooking, arrange the carrot ribbons on the parchment paper using tongs, make sure they’re not touching each other so that they don’t stick. Bake for 25 minutes.
18. Spread a bit of caster sugar on a small plate, then carefully peel the carrot ribbons off the parchment one-by-one and dip both sides in the caster sugar (we suggest using tongs as the carrots will be quite hot!)
19. Drape the sugared ribbons over a rolling pin or similar and leave to dry for a 2-3 hours, then remove from the rolling pin and arrange on their sides on a tray so that the inside of the ribbons can dry, again, until dry to the touch and crisp, a few hours or overnight. Store in an airtight container until needed. (To make tighter curls, either wrap them around the handles of wooden spoons, or, for the curls we made, after the initial drying and while they’re still a little pliable, gently tighten the curls by hand then arrange on a tray to dry completely.)