Description
These vegan carrot cake cupcakes are moist and rich and packed with flavor. Topped with a deliciously tangy lemon buttercream and chopped walnuts.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) All Purpose Flour*
- 1 cup (200g) Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Cinamon
- 3/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 Flax Eggs (2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed + 6 Tbsp Hot Water)
- 1 and 3/4 cup (192g) Grated Carrot*
- 1/3 Cup (80ml) Canola Oil (or Vegetable Oil)
- 2 Tbsp Applesauce
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Distilled White Vinegar
Frosting:
- 4 cups (480g) Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2–3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Decoration:
- Chopped Walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Sift all-purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add light brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax eggs by adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl and adding in 6 tablespoons of hot water (from the kettle). Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract and vinegar and mix into a thick batter.
- If the batter seems too thick to come together then step away from the bowl for 2-3 minutes and then come back to it and mix again. The moisture from the freshly grated carrot will seep into the batter, so that when you mix it again it will come together into a batter.
- Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes, it should come out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the cupcake pan and transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Start at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until the frosting is thick and smooth. If needed, add the extra lemon juice.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and decorate with chopped walnuts.
Notes
*Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method (spoon it into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife, don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup). Or weigh it on a food scale for total accuracy.
*Grated carrots – these should be fresh carrots that you grate yourself. Don’t buy a bag of pre-grated carrots because they will be too dry for this batter. We need freshly grated carrots.
*The frosting. You can use our lemon frosting as pictured here, or you can swap it out for our Vegan cream cheese frosting that is made with a homemade cashew based vegan cream cheese.
*Storing and freezing: These carrot cake cupcakes lose none of their moistness or flavor when kept (covered) in the fridge and they last for at least a week, though of course the fresher the better. They are also freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months!
*Nutritional information is based on 1 cupcake (of 12) with a very generous amount of frosting.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake (of 12)
- Calories: 412
- Sugar: 56.4g
- Sodium: 279mg
- Fat: 13.9g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5g
- Carbohydrates: 70.9g
- Fiber: 1.4g
- Protein: 2g