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Monday, August 18, 2008

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I swear, I will never get sick of all this wonderful local summer produce! This week, I picked up some local organic carrots at the market...and they were so freakin good, I knew exactly what to do with them: carrot cake cupcakes! I used the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but I added about 1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger to the batter with the raisins and walnuts. These were so tasty! Perfectly moist and full of carrot-y goodness! And of course, they were even more awesome with cream cheeze icing and a lovely toasted walnut half on top!
If you can get your hands on some nice local carrots, give these a try! (oh, p.s. sorry about the blurry crappy picture! my apt has awful lighting...i'm workin' on it)



Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes (makes 12)
(the ingredients with a * are my additions to the recipe)
2/3 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
*pinch of nutmeg
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup plaiin soy yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
*1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the walnuts, raisins, and ginger pieces.
Spray the liners with non-stick spray. Fill each liner with batter to 2/3 full. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Then stuff your face.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (ok, Earth Balance. let's be honest.)
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Cream together the softened margarine and cream cheese until smooth and fully combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and whip until fluffy and creamy. Stir in the vanilla and whip for a few more minutes. Smear onto fully cooled cupcakes and place toasted walnuts on top to make them all pretty like.
**Adapted from Isa and Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World**

2 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Mmmm I was thinking about making carrot cake cupcakes for my birthday (coming up soon), and now if I do, I love the idea of adding ginger!

Anonymous said...

The cupcakes look delicious.

Krys