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Carrot & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

This crowd-pleasing recipe turns the ultimate afternoon-tea favourite into delightful cupcakes

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and 506 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 12
Prep30 min
Cook22 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F) and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.

  2. In a large bowl, mix both flours, the bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and muscovado sugar, breaking up any lumps of sugar.

  3. In a jug, beat the eggs with the sunflower oil and orange zest, then stir into the dry ingredients with the grated carrots until just combined.

  4. Spoon the batter into the cases, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the tops spring back. Cool on a rack.

  5. Beat the softened butter until smooth, then beat in the soft cheese until just combined.

  6. Sift in the icing sugar, add the vanilla extract and beat until light and smooth. Chill briefly if the frosting is too soft to pipe.

  7. Once the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe or spread the frosting over the top of each one.

  8. Scatter the orange sprinkles over the frosting to decorate. Keep the cupcakes chilled until serving.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Carrot + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Orange + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together736 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sunflower + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together279 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, sunflower, carrot, butter, cheese):

  1. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  2. Applebetter flavor fit
  3. Vanillaabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, sunflower, carrot, butter, cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).