Carrot Cake Petit Fours
Makes 24 little petit fours

We love miniature versions of things. Here we made tiny carrot cakes, by simply creating a square one and trimming into bite-size petit-fours (meaning ‘little ovens’ in French). It is a lovely sweet treat to put out at your BBQ as a dessert that everyone can help themselves to. If you don’t see yourself finishing the whole thing, freeze half the cake after baking, but make the frosting fresh.

210g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup sunflower oil
3 eggs
250g finely grated carrots
50g unsalted butter, softened
200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar
24 roasted hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon together in a large bowl.

In a second bowl, whisk together the sugar, maple syrup, oil and eggs. Add the finely grated carrots to the syrup mixture, then tip the wet mixture to the bowl of flour, mixing well until fully combined.

Line a square baking tin (20cm x 20cm) with baking paper and pour in the mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven but do not turn the oven off. Spread the hazelnuts out on a roasting tray and roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes, shaking the tray halfway through. Remove and set aside.

After removing the cake from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minute, then gently remove from the baking tin. Allow to cool completely.

Make the frosting by mixing the softened butter until creamy using a hand mixer. Add the cream cheese and icing sugar and mix until well-combined.

Use a sharp knife to slice off the ‘dome’ from the top of the cooled cake. Spread the frosting onto the cake using a palette knife.

Trim into 24 little bite-size squares and place a roasted hazelnut onto each one.