Have you ever tried combining a carrot cake recipe and a banana bread recipe? I have to say, I was quite pleased with the results when I tried it. I discovered Paola Velez's carrot cake the other day. I made the carrot cake according to the recipe, but the cake was a bit dry. Then I tried again by adding crushed pineapple (Paola's carrot cake does not have pineapple), extra carrots and banana because I thought maybe extra wet ingredients would help make the cake moist. Well, the result was not what I had expected...I messed up the baking time and the texture was kind of dense..... Anyway, I tried again (third time) and this time worked in my favor, and I used a muffin tin rather than a loaf tin. Top the muffin with some cream cheese frosting, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, to make it extra tasty!
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 8oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup unsalted roasted sunflower-seed kernels
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Cream cheese frosting (optional)
1 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter (8 Tbsp), softened
1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
1. Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12-cups muffin pan with paper liners and lightly spray with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together.
3. In a large bowl, beat carrots, banana, pineapple, brown sugar, oil, raisins, sunflower seeds and vanilla at a medium-low speed until well-combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the flour mixture to the carrot mixture, stir, until just combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.
6. Bake for 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in muffin tin 5 minutes then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Optional cream cheese frosting - beat the cream cheese at medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add in butter and continue to beat for another 3 minutes. Gradually add in the powdered sugar, beat for an additional 3 minutes.