What about this super healthy sweet muffin treat with your next cup of zen? This recipe comes from Bryony and Harry Lancaster’s fabulous new book of healthy food and lifestyles, Egg of the Universe (Murdoch Books). It’s a celebration of seasonal eating, wellbeing and health from the cafe and yoga studio of the same name. This delicious muffin recipe is just one of 100 of the most popular dishes from the cafe.
Makes 16-18
We like to play around with cakes and sweets that involve some vegetable elements, and purple carrots are especially fun to use for their beautiful colour. This most recent carrot muffin recipe by our chef Gabe is beautifully fudgy and has that little extra verve from the golden beetroot icing. No golden beetroot? Top it with cream or yoghurt instead.
Ingredients
1 cup (200 g) rapadura sugar
1 cup (160 g) brown rice flour
1 heaped tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups (600 g) grated purple carrot
2 cups (280 g) grated beetroot (beets), scrubbed, then grated with the skin on
¾ cup (180 ml) olive oil
3 organic eggs
Sumac or beetroot powder, to serve
Whipped yoghurt or coconut cream, to serve
Golden beetroot icing
200 g golden beetroot (beets), peeled
1 tablespoon lemon juice
50 g (1¾ oz) raw sugar
½ teaspoon pectin
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method
For golden beetroot icing, cover beetroot with water in a small saucepan, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until soft. Cool, then puree with lemon juice in a blender. Transfer to a saucepan. Whisk together sugar, pectin and spices, then add to beetroot. Bring to a gentle simmer to activate the pectin, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature, then chill.
Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F). Whisk together sugar, rice flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl, then add carrot and beetroot. The sugar in the mix will begin to macerate the vegetables and draw out their juice. Pour the oil over this mix and gently fold it through.
Whisk eggs in a separate bowl, then add them to the batter and fold through until thoroughly incorporated. Once combined, transfer batter into lined muffin moulds and bake for 15–20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into a muffin comes out clean (or with only the merest hint of purple).
Top each muffin with a spoonful of golden beetroot icing, dust with sumac or beetroot powder, and serve with whipped yoghurt or coconut cream.
Images and text from Egg of the Universe by Bryony and Harry Lancaster. Photography by Alan Benson. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
