Vegan carrot cupcakes with coconut icing!

Hey there good friends! 

I know this may be delayed because Easter has already passed but prior to Easter I found myself craving the best carrot cake for our Easter dessert! Now I had never made carrot cake or anything of the sorts, unless you count Quaker carrot muffin mix. Those scream childhood, but have too much processed junk for me to enjoy any more.

To satisfy my craving I look at an assortment of recipes for carrot cake. I was specifically looking for vegan recipes because even though I don't follow a vegan diet I like to use it as a guideline in my baking. This is just my preference, but with vegan baking it's easier to avoid the ingredients I'd rather not include. Oh and did I mention vegan baking is just delicious? That's reason enough! 

As I was looking for ideas I really wasn't fond of using up my coconut oil every time I wanted to bake something. That's when I came up with the idea to use apple sauce. Fortunately I was out of apple sauce but I did have apples! With these two small apples, I chopped, and peeled them, and put them in a pot to simmer for less than 5 minutes! I added water, and cinnamon and made a delicious sub for oil or butter. This ended up making the cupcakes extremely moist and delicious, with little bites of apple here and there. If you don't have any apples or you don't feel like making it from scratch ( I highly encourage you to do it), then you can use unsweetened store bought apple sauce.

For this recipe I really wanted to keep the "cream cheese icing" to top the cupcakes off. However, since I was little I can't remember liking cream cheese by itself, or even on cupcakes. It's just to think and strong for me! That's why I came up with a beautiful coconut icing that's lighter than cream cheese but definitely creamy enough!

The cupcakes ended up being better than I ever expected. I think the day I baked them I had probably 3 of them, which left me with no worries because these guys are nut-free, dairy-free, vegan, oil-free, and refined sugar-free!

Serves: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients you'll need! 

• 2tbsp ground flax seed + 6 tbsp water
• 11/3 cup spelt flour or whole wheat flour (I used spelt)
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 large or 2 small apples (apples of your choice!) + 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup raw sugar or coconut sugar (I used raw)
• 1/4-1/2 milk of your choice (I used coconut milk from the carton)
• 2/3 cup grated carrot 

For the icing:

• 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk (full fat)
• desired amount of raw sugar or coconut sugar
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of ginger
• pinch of nutmeg

Instructions!

• Preheat the oven to 320 F or 160 C
• Add the ground flax to the water. If you only have flax seed then blend the seeds with water in a food processor.
• Peel and chop the apple(s) and place in a small pot with water and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. 
• Once the water is lightly simmering, stir and place lid over the top.
• Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.) Mix well.
• Once the apples are cooked place in a food processor, or mash very well (so that it makes and apple sauce.)
• Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl ( ground flax seeds + water, apples, and carrot). Leave the milk to the side.
• Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix until well blended.
• Add the milk until it makes a thick moist batter.
• Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Scoop the batter into the liners and fill 2/3 of the way full.
• Bake the cup cakes for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Allow them to cool. 
• Pour the coconut milk into a bowl and beat with and electric mixer on low speed.
• When blended add the sugar and spices, blend at medium-high speed until a thick consistency. 
• Place the bowl in the fridge to firm for at least 10 minutes while the cupcakes cool.
• Once the icing is chilled and the cupcakes are cooled, ice!
• Top with cinnamon or chopped pecans.
• Enjoy!

Until next time!