Carrot cake cupcakes
lovely take on the more traditional carrot cake these muffins are gluten free and vegan and taste amazing! We shot the below video in London with our friends from Waitrose & Partners in an old church converted into a beautiful house!
Takes 50 minutes
Serves 12
Ingredients
- 160 ml sunflower oil
- 3 tbsp of ground flax seeds
- 170 g maple syrup
- 200 g finely grated carrots
- 75 g walnuts
- 200 g gluten free flour/ white flour if not gluten intolerant
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- Icing
- 200 g vegan cream cheese to make your own you need 1x 400ml soy yogurt and you will need to start the night before – see below for instructions
- 90 g coconut oil
- 75 ml agave syrup
- 25 g walnuts for garnish
Instructions
- Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c.
- First make your flax eggs. In a cup add the ground flax seeds and 9 tbsp of water, mix well and leave to soak for 5 mins until it goes thick and gloopy. Roughly chop the walnuts. Sieve and mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (walnuts, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, allspice). In another bowl add all the wet ingredients (sunflower oil, grated carrots, maple syrup, vanilla extract and the flax egg) and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and again mix well.
- Take a standard 12 muffin tray and line with cupcake liners. Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cupcakes. Any extra batter you can bake as more cupcakes or as a small cake.
- bake at 180 degrees for 20 mins until a skewer comes out clean
- While the muffins are in the oven time to make the icing.
- Add all ingredients for the icing together in a pot (vegan cream cheese, coconut oil, maple syrup) and heat whisking regularly till coconut oil melts. Once the coconut oil has melted remove from the heat.
- Add to a blender and blend until it emulsifies and almost reaches a mayonaise like consistency. If you dont have a blender you could use a hand mixer to mix, again mix until you reach a custard like texture. Leave to cool in the fridge, once it cools it will thicken.
- Take the muffins out of the oven and let cool fully
- Once fully cool ice the cupcakes you can either use a piping bag or else a spoon. Ice your muffins and add a walnut on top and enjoy!
- To make your own soy cream cheese
- Take the 400ml tub of soy yogurt (ensure there is no sweeteners and this is a plain yogurt with no flavouring). Line a colander with cheesecloth or muslin and place a bowl underneath.. Pour the full contents of the soy yogurt in on top of the cheesecloth and leave to sit overnight – cover with a tea towel (ensuring it doesnt go into the yogurt!). The next morning the yogurt will have drained lots of water leaving a perfect cream cheese. Season your cream cheese with a sprinkle of salt and it’s good to go! This also makes a perfect healthier spread – add some mixed herbs and other favourite seasoning to make it more interesting.
