The Recipe

Ingredients:

For The Muffins:

• 3 eggs - Weigh them in their shells
• Self raising flour - same weight as the eggs
• Caster sugar - same weight as the eggs
• Soft butter or margarine - same weight as the eggs
• Grated raw carrots - same weight as the eggs
• 2 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Teaspoon ground mixed spices (or half a teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and cinnamon)

For The Icing:

• 75g Icing sugar
• 1 Large orange

Method:

Weigh the eggs in their shells - and take note of the weight - 188g in my case.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Measure out the same weight of self-raising flour and sugar in a large bowl.

Add the spice and baking powder and mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.

Peel and grate some carrots, weighing as you go, to the same weight as the eggs.

Set them aside (they will be added to the batter after initial mixing.

Add the butter and eggs (but not the carrots, yet) to the dry ingredients and mix with an electric beater until smooth.

If you don't have an electric beater, warm the butter in a cup in the microwave until almost melted and you will be able to mix the batter by hand with a wooden spoon.

Add the grated carrot and mix in thoroughly, either by hand or with an electric mixer.

Spoon the mixture into large muffin cases in a muffin tin - unless you've used very small or large eggs, it should be just about enough for 12 muffins.

Place in the oven and set a timer for 12 minutes.

While the muffins are baking, pare off the zest of the orange - either with a citrus zester (as here), or with a fine grater.

Juice the orange after removing the zest.

Put the icing sugar in a bowl and add small amounts of the orange juice - keep going until it reaches a smooth, thick liquid consistency.

When the muffins are done (test by poking one with a toothpick - if it comes out clean, they're done), allow them to cool for five minutes.

Then arrange a few strands of the orange zest on each one and spoon over some of the icing.

Allow to cool a little more (they're quite fragile when hot) before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Weigh The Same Concept

The weigh-the-same formula (without the carrots or spice) makes a good sponge cake mix all on its own, or it can be used as the basis for any number of experiments - if you add dry ingredients (such as the same weight of oats or nuts), you end up with something more like a soft cookie.