Air-fryer carrot cake whoopie pies
White chocolate & cream cheese frosting
40 mins plus chilling & cooling
Not Too Tricky
makes 12
About the recipe
I’ve taken two things that I love – the great American whoopie pie and good-old carrot cake – to create perfectly formed afternoon treats that you can cook to order in an air fryer. I like to make a batch and keep them in the freezer, so they’re ready and waiting for those times when only something sweet will do.
Ingredients
100g white chocolate
1 orange
165g full-fat cream cheese
85g unsalted butter
100g stem ginger balls in syrup
200g self-raising flour
100g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g carrots
50g pistachios
1 medium free-range egg
Top Tip
Swap the pistachios for your favourite nut – think hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds. Feel free to swap the white chocolate for dark or milk chocolate, if you prefer.
Method
For the frosting, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (or melt in the microwave). Finely grate in half the orange zest, then mix in the cream cheese. Cover, then place in the fridge and leave to chill for at least 1 hour to firm up.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat with a pinch of sea salt and 1 tablespoon of syrup from the stem ginger jar.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
Trim, peel and grate the carrots into the bowl, finely grate in the remaining orange zest, then finely chop and add the pistachios and stem ginger balls.
Pour in the melted butter mixture and mix together, then crack in the egg, mixing until fully combined.
Use two dessert spoons to divide the mixture into 14 balls (roughly the same size as golf balls), placing them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper as you go (you can freeze them at this stage, ready to bake another day, if you like).
When you’re ready to cook, lightly oil the air-fryer basket or shelf. Working in batches, transfer four balls to the air fryer, making sure there’s a 1cm gap in between them. Cook at 170°C for 12 minutes (or 15 minutes from frozen), then carefully remove the air-fryer basket or shelf and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool, while you cook the next batches (or leave them in the freezer for a rainy day).
Once the cookies are completely cool, sandwich them with the cream cheese frosting, to serve.
