It was my birthday yesterday, so naturally this calls for cake.
Deciding on carrot cake muffins with ‘cream cheese’ topping, I set about converting a recipe. I’m not a fan of overly sweet things, really I’m not. Not since I’ve been doing yearly sugar detoxes anyway. Whilst I enjoy the occasional sweet treat, I find when I bake myself, I can reduce the sugar considerably and still produce a treat that satisfies.
I’m also a fan of wholesome cakes – my chocolate courgette cake being a family favourite. The sweetness of the carrots, combined with juicy raisins and the crunch of chopped walnuts, just fits the bill.
As you can see, I went a little overboard and made 24 muffins, which is a lot of cake, but I wanted to make plenty to share the birthday love!
The muffins came out a lovely golden brown. They held well and the result was a delicious, moist cake.
If you would like to try them for yourself, you can find the recipe below.
- 360 ml vegetable oil
- 240 g light muscavado sugar
- 6 eggs
- 200 g Tapioca flour
- 75 g Sorghum flour
- 25 g quinoa flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 450 g carrots (pre peeled and grated weight)
- 100 g Walnuts
- 200 g raisins
- 70 g dairy free margarine
- 140 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 300 g dairy free cream cheese
- Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 5. Line 2 muffin trays with paper cases.
- Beat together the oil, sugar and eggs
- In a separate bowl, mix together the tapioca, sorghum and quinoa flours with the baking powder, bicarb, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat together until fully incorporated.
- Grate the carrots and finely chop the walnuts. Add these, along with the raisins the the mix and stir in.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes.
- To make the cream cheese frosting: Sift the icing sugar and cream with the margarine. Add the vanilla extract and cream cheese, then beat together until smooth. Once the cakes are cooled, spread the cream cheese frosting on to each muffin, then refrigerate until set.
Chloe
2nd December 2016Hi. I love a carrot cake but I’ve never had as mini muffins. I love this idea. I will save this recipe to try at a later date. Thanks for sharing, Chloe https://pinkiebag.com/
Nicola Young
3rd December 2016I made them as full sized muffins so they were substantial and they weren’t dry. It worked well.
emma amoscato
7th December 2016You don’t often see carrot cake as muffins but I love it and they would make a great breakfast or lunchbox treat #freefromfridays
Nicola Young
8th December 2016Not as often as you should!
Mel
8th December 2016I love carrot cake! Your cupcakes look absolutely perfect, and so moreish. I haven’t made carrot cake in years actually. Time to rectify that! Thanks for joining in with #FreeFromFridays.
Nicola Young
10th December 2016I hadn’t either. I had an amazing recipe given to me but sadly don’t have it anymore. This worked well though