Prep time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 12

Ingredients

1 ½ cups self-raising flour
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped into ½ cm pieces
½ cup canola oil
1 tspn vanilla extract
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the cream cheese icing:
100g low-fat cream cheese, softened
30g unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1½ cups icing sugar

For the decorations:
1 cup shredded coconut
24 bananas
24 purple Jelly Tots
12 white marshmallows
12 red Jelly Tots
1 roll liquorice, cut into 2cm long whiskers along the lines
24 peppermint Tic Tacs

Method

Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan-forced) and line a 12-hole standard muffin tray with paper cases.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, sugar and coconut together, stirring until well combined. Add carrot and pineapple, stirring until well combined.

In a medium-sized jug, combine oil, eggs and vanilla together, whisking until well combined. Pour over the carrot mixture, stirring until well combined.

Divide mixture evenly into paper cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Allow cakes to cool in muffin tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cakes are cooling, mix the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth. Then add lemon zest and icing sugar and mix until well combined.

Chill in the fridge until cakes have cooled and then ice with three-quarters of the icing.

To decorate the cupcakes, place coconut in a small bowl and dip each cake until well coated. Using the remaining icing, stick on two bananas for ears, two purple Jelly Tots for eyes, two marshmallow halves for cheeks (cut side up), one red Jelly Tot for the nose, six liquorice strips for whiskers and two Tic Tacs for teeth for each cake.