Vegan Carrot & Walnut Cupcakes

I have been meaning to tell you about my carrot and walnut cupcakes for quite a while, and promised I would do so in a recent post. This is a recipe that I’ve adapted and veganised. Originally I made it as a whole cake. This time around I wanted to give it a bit of the “cute” factor, and seeing as vegan cupcakes aren’t readily available at my local bakery or cake shop, I decided to do it myself.

I also intended to take them to share with my yoga foundation course girls, and I must say they went down a treat. A few of these lovely ladies have been asking me for the recipe; Mohini, Saffee, Harriet, Nicole – here it finally is. I hope it was worth the wait!

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

• 2 & ¼ x cups of brown rice flour (you can pick your own flour, but choose wisely. I went with brown rice as it makes my recipe gluten free!)
• 3 x teaspoons baking powder (someone once gave me a great tip – always buy new baking powder when baking without eggs, don’t use the old stuff that’s been in your cupboard for years, or your bake won’t rise)
• 1 x teaspoon baking soda
• 3 x teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ x teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 x teaspoon salt
• ½ cup applesauce (see my vegan recipe here : vegan homemade no added sugar apple sauce)
• 1 x cup almond milk
• 2 x teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 x cup unrefined cane sugar
• ½ x cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 x large carrots, grated
• 1 x cup walnuts, crushed

For the “icing”:

• 1 x cup cashews
• ¼ x cup almond milk
• ¼ x cup maple syrup
• 2 x tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 x teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 x teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ x teaspoon salt

EQUIPMENT:

• High powered food processor, Magimix, Vitamix or similar
• Kitchen Aid or similar
• Cupcake baking tray
• Cupcake cases

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 165C and place your 12 cupcake cases in your cupcake / muffin tray in preparation
2. Sieve your choice of flour in to a mixing bowl and whisk together with the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt (I used a Kitchen Aid for this, but you can just as easily do it by hand)
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla, sugar and coconut oil
4. And these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the Kitchen Aid, or whatever you are using
5. Fold in the grated carrots and crushed walnuts
6. Fill each cupcake case about 2/3s  full with the cake mixture
7. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes (when ready you should be able to pull a toothpick out clean)
8. These little beauties need to cool completely before you “ice” them, so while they’re cooling, you can mix up the “icing”
9. You’ll need a powerful food processor for this – blend all the “icing” ingredients together. You may need to add a little dash of extra almond milk to get it going. Start off slow and increase the blender speed as you go. Sweeten with sugar, or make it more tangy with lemon juice, it’s your preference.
10. Keep blending until very smooth and then chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. You want it to firm up enough so you can spoon or pipe it on to the cupcakes
11. Decorate as you wish. I used extra crushed walnuts to sprinkle on top, but lemon peel might also be a nice touch.

Make sure to store anything you don’t immediately scoff in the fridge, or your delicious icing will likely melt. This will also keep your cupcakes fresher for longer.

Some nut “icing” recipes will suggest you soak you nuts (cashews, macadamia or whatever) in water over night. I did this the first time I made this kind of “icing”, but have since found that as long as you have a powerful enough processor, and perhaps blend in batches, soaking isn’t really necessary and will actually only make it harder to blend your “icing” in to a smooth paste.

So there you have it. Another vegan treat recipe. As always, let me know how you get on. Any suggestions for recipe amendments, I’d love to hear them, all feedback welcome.

Come back soon for more vegan recipes, tips, brands and products. In the meantime check out my Instagram – @isitveganuk.