Brandade is one of those items that, if I saw it on a menu, I will almost certainly purchase. Although there are numerous methods to prepare this amazing dish from the south of France, it often involves some kind of mingling of salt fish, potato, garlic, and olive oil. Always bake this, then serve it with homemade crostini while it’s still hot.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 17 mins |
| Additional Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 12 mins |
| Servings: | 30 |
| Yield: | 30 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 4 cups shredded carrots, or to taste
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins with paper liners and spray liners with vegetable oil spray to prevent cupcakes from sticking to liners.
- Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, allspice, and ginger in the bowl of a food processor; mix to incorporate ingredients, 5 to 10 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and toss in shredded carrots.
- Use the food processor to combine white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract with a paddle attachment. Drizzle in the vegetable oil while the food processor is still running. Add to flour mixture and mix just until combined.
- Scoop batter into the prepared muffin tins to fill the cups 2/3 full.
- Bake in the preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed, 17 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool, about 20 minutes.
- Beat cream cheese and butter together with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer on medium speed. Stir in vanilla extract. Add confectioners’ sugar gradually on low speed; turn to high speed and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes.
- This cupcake recipe was developed at high altitude (6,000 feet). At a lower altitude you may need to try adding only 2 cups flour in the beginning to ensure your batter is not too thick and cupcakes are not too dry and dense. If batter is too loose and wet with 2 cups flour, add flour 1/4 cup at a time and incorporate to thicken. Test bake 1 cupcake to determine correct amount of flour for your altitude. If the cupcake sinks in the middle, add 1/4 cup more flour to the batter. At a lower altitude, cooking time may be longer than 20 minutes.
- When incorporating confectioners’ sugar to creamed butter and cream cheese, place a kitchen towel over the stand mixer before turning mixer on to prevent sugar dust from blowing all over. Once incorporated, you can remove the towel.
- In place of vegetable oil, you may use any oil of your choice, such as canola or coconut oil.
- If you like a lot of frosting on your cupcakes, double the frosting recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 227 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 35 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 216 mg |
| Sugars | 23 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I used the feature on the recipe to adjust it from 30 cupcakes to 12 cupcakes. I ended up with 11 cupcakes using an ice cream scoop, which was fine–just an FYI. I live at 7,000ft and these came out great! The mixture seemed a little runny, but my test cupcake came out fine so I didn’t add any extra flour. The only thing I modified about the recipe is that I added some whole anise seeds for fun. It’s fun to get a faint licorice tang with some bites