Carrot Cake Tea Cakes with Blood Orange Glaze and Swiss Meringue Kisses

SWISS MERINGUE KISSES

1. Preheat the oven to 210°f / 100˚c. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a large piping bags with your tip of choice (I used an Ateco #865)
2. Measure the egg whites and granulated sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer or other heatproof bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water, ensuring that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Heat the mixture, whisking often and watching the edges carefully, until it no longer feels gritty when rubbed between your fingers, and it registers at least 160°f / 70°c on a thermometer.
3. Carefully transfer to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the vanilla bean paste. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks just start to form - you do not want the meringue to dry out too much or it will not pipe nicely. It should be glossy and flow slightly.
4. Use a few small blobs of meringue to secure the parchment paper to the baking sheet. Pipe 'kisses', onto the baking paper lined sheets, leaving a small amount of space between each (they will not spread in the oven). You can pipe whatever shape you would like here - blobs, nests, kisses etc. Sprinkle the piped kisses with sprinkles of your choice, if using.
5. Place the baking sheets into the oven. Bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until they feel firm and no longer sticky (baking time will vary depending on size, but keep an eye on them as you do not want them to colour), and peel cleanly off the paper when you lift them up. Turn off the oven, and leave them in there for at least an additional hour to dry out and crisp up.
6. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

CARROT CAKE TEA CAKES

1. Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Grease 1-2 non-stick muffin pans with baking spray (this recipe makes 12-14 so I baked some of the extra off in cupcake liners). If your muffin tin isn’t super non-stick you can use baking spray with flour or lightly dust the pans with flour after spraying, making sure to tap out the excess.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the raw sugar, oil, and eggs, and mix on medium speed until well combined and slightly lightened in colour, 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla bean paste and mix until combined.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and baking soda. Add to the mixer and mix until just combined. Add the carrots and mix on low until just combined.
4. Add about 3 tablespoon of the batter to each cavity of the muffin pan (you want to fill them less than you would a regular muffin so that they don’t rise up over the edge and can sit flat).
5. Bake the tea cakes for 20-25 minutes, or until the centres spring back when lightly touched and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean - start checking for doneness after 20 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes in the muffin pans before turning out onto a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.

BLOOD ORANGE GLAZE

1. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and blood orange juice. Stir until combined, and then add more blood orange juice if needed a few drops at a time to form a thick glaze (you want it to be thicker than you think, or it will go everywhere). If you are unsure about the consistency, do a test glaze on a tea cake to make sure that it isn’t too runny, and then adjust as needed. Use immediately.

ASSEMBLY

1. Place the tea cakes on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Add the glaze to each tea cake, applying to the top and letting it drip down the sides. Leave to sit until the glaze sets, and then top with a few of the meringue kisses.
2. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature. If possible, keep the meringue kisses in an airtight container until serving so that they don’t go soft.