March 27, 2008

Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

I absolutely love carrot cake. It is by far my favorite of all cakes. The moist, heartyness of the cake pairs perfectly with the cream cheese frosting. I wanted to make carrot cake for Easter, but because I made the cookies I thought I'd hold off a couple of days. Carrie and I have eaten almost all the cupcakes. They are just so delicious.

The grating of the carrots furthered the evidence that I NEED a food processor. The blender is just not making the cut. I added a bit of cinnamon to the frosting for an added spice. I definitely want to try making this in the cake form, but the cupcakes were definitely a success.



Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking's Carrot Cake

3 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups finely grated peeled carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cupcake tins or use paper cupcake liners.

In a food processor or blender, whip together the ground flaxseed and water until it's thick and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the oil and blend until combined. Transfer them mixture to a large bowl, and add the carrots and walnuts. Stir to combine.



In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and salt. Add the wet mixture to this dry mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until thoroughly combined, but do not overmix.

Fill the muffin tins evenly with the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcakes



Once cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting
From The Joy of Vegan Baking

8 ounces non-dairy cream cheese, cold (Tofutti brand is good, but make sure to chose the non-hydrogenated variety!)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Tilly and Me on top of Spencer's Butte!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I have mentioned before, I am incredibly lucky to live with our resident vegan chef, not just because of her delicious baking of course! But I need to vouch for how absolutely amazing the carrot cake cupcakes came out! You know how sometimes carrot cake can taste kind of greasy and unhealthy? Well this latest concoction had the perfect vegan balance going on--sweet and moist but fresh and light too.

J said...

Those carrot cake cupcakes look fantastic! I love carrot cake! I have a bag of carrots in my fridge but never seem to have the rest of the stuff, I'm going to have to change that. Though I will make mine sans icing though, too sweet for me.

That picture of you and Tilly is beautiful!

Ruby Red said...

Wow, those look delicious! And for some reason, carrot cake just looks a thousand times yummier than usual when it's in a cute little cupcake form. ;)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Great minds think alike, because I am planning on making carrot cake this weekend! Your pictures have only served to heighten my anticipation!

Cakespy said...

These look dense, carroty and completely delicious. Actually in the frosted picture they kind of look like a hybrid between cake and frosted rolls...and this is a good hybrid indeed. Yum yum yum.

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

i am hooked on carrot cupcakes too -- just last week i made my whole wheat, fat free cakes for the 3rd time so far this year!