This morning's baking...

...is tonight's dessert!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love food. I love making it, I love sharing it, I love eating it, I love looking at it, I love watching it being made. I love it! So to write a whole blog update on food is not really a surprise, well at least it shouldn't be.

Whilst I sit here feeling helpless for all the North Queenslanders currently being hit by Cyclone Yasi I am eating away my mornings baking. This morning we had a lovely playdate with some new Perth friends, Hamish and I baked some delicious Carrot and Pineapple Cakes to share with our friends <3

Here is the delicious recipe and a dodgy picture of my dessert! YUM!

Mini Carrot Cakes (The Australian Woman's Weekly)

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
-3 eggs, beaten lightly
-1 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour
-3/4 cup caster sugar
-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-2 cups firmly packed coarsely grated carrot
-3/4 cup (160gm) drained crushed pineapple

Cream Cheese icing
-50gm butter, softened
-1/2 cup (120gm) cream cheese, softened
-2 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture

Mini Carrots (for decorating)
-6 dried apricot halves
-green snakes

1. Preheat oven to moderate. Grease 6 hole muffin pan (or in our case prepare pans of choice).
2. Mix oil, eggs, flour, sugar and cinnamon in large bowl with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in carrot and pineapple.
3. Pour mixture into prepared pan holes. Bake in moderate oven (35 for large muffins, 15 for small) until muffins spring back when lightly touched.
4. Meanwhile, make cream cheese icing and mini carrots.
5. Spread cold cakes with cream cheese icing; place carrots on cakes, seam-side down.

Cream cheese icing: Beat butter and cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer until light and flussy; gradually beat in icing sugar.
Mini Carrots: Place apricots in cup, cover with boiling water; stand 10 minutes. Drain apricots; dry with absorbent paper. Cut snake into six 3cm lengths. Place one snake piece at the top of one apricot half; roll apricot half around snake, allowing snake to protude from one end. Make several thin cuts in snake for carrot top.