There is nothing better than a delicious homemade cake, and it’s even better when you can use up leftover ingredients to make one.
Shredding up excess carrots is the first thing that springs to mind but with Mary Berry’s recipe, you can make use of another pantry item.
Her unique recipe contains cereal to bulk out the mixture with added texture and a kick of fibre.
As shared on BBC Food, the beloved British chef claimed that her formula delivers “all the same flavours of carrot cake in a respectable muffin”.
She even adds a “sweet cream cheese icing” as a “surprise filling”.
Method
Take a large mixing bowl and add the bran cereal plus the milk. Stir gently to combine, then leave to soak for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7, and line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper muffin cases.
Zest half of the orange into the cereal and milk bowl and put to one side. In a small bowl, add the cream cheese and caster sugar along with the remaining zest and mix well – this will be the filling.
Using the coarse-hole side of a grater, grate the washed carrots onto a board. Weigh out 150g of grated carrot and add to the large bowl, reserving any leftover carrots for a salad.
Mary said: “By now the cereal will be very mushy. Add the brown sugar and mix well with a wooden spoon, sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger but don’t mix them in just yet.”
Break the eggs into a separate bowl and add the oil. Beat with a fork just until the egg yolks are broken up and mixed with the whites, then tip into the large bowl and mix everything with the wooden spoon.
Using a medium-sized spoon, drop a dollop of the carrot mixture into each paper muffin case in the tray, followed by a small spoonful of the cream cheese filling into the middle.
Cover the filling with the rest of the carrot mixture, dividing it evenly among the cases. Place in the heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
Mary recommended checking the muffins are cooked by gently pressing the centre of them with your finger – if it springs back then it’s ready.
Finally, remove the tray from the oven and leave for five minutes, then carefully transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool. Store the muffins in an airtight container and eat within 24 hours.
