Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Well, I’ve gone ahead and done it! I’ve recreated a carrot cake recipe that’s vegan and gluten-free and made it into a bite-size cupcake. I’ve made it the way we like it, so it might not have the raisins or the pineapple in it like most recipes seem to call for.

Basically I came up with this recipe by taking the best parts out of a few different recipes and mashing it all together. I was actually pretty nervous to see how these would turn out. Might I say … they did not disappoint!

I’ve never been a true carrot cake fan, mostly because I hate cooked raisins. Like hate to the point of gagging just thinking about it. I love regular old dried raisins, but not when they are cooked.

These cupcakes are not to be confused with … ummm potentially healthier carrot muffins. No, these are a cake put into a cupcake tin. It’s cake through and through.

Here’s the recipe. A cream cheese frosting recipe will be in a different post, coming soon. 🙂

Yield: 24 cupcakes

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 flax ‘eggs’
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat applesauce, prepared flax eggs and vegetable oil until smooth. Add sugars and continue to beat until well mixed. Add vanilla and mix. In a seperate bowl combine the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until very smooth. It should have a typical cake batter appearance. Mix in the grated carrot, then fold in the chopped nuts.

Fill muffin tins, lined with cupcake liners, full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until brown and tested for doneness. Cupcakes will puff up quite nicely but may fall only slightly when cooled. Let cool a few minutes in the muffin tin then turn out on to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting with 1/2 a recipe of Cream Cheese Frosting.