Carrot Cupcakes for every Diet

What's a 24-Carrot tasting event without carrot cake?

These morsels are fussy to make, but so worth it.  Add an edible flower on top of the white "sour cream" frosting and voila! It becomes a party cake that anyone can enjoy.  FYI: We tried these with regular flour, too, and they turned out denser and less "cake like" than with the gluten-free flour.

Note: this recipe could have nuts added, but many people are allergic to them. It's best to leave them out if you are serving an unknown crowd.

Mix together:

2.5 cups (12.5 oz) of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free all purpose flour blend.

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1-1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch of cloves

pinch of ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

Grate 1 pound of carrots (do grate them, the thin pieces cook better in the batter.)

Add the flour mixture to the carrots and mix until all carrots are coated.

Make and set aside:

4 flax "eggs" by using 4 tablespoons of ground flax meal with 8 tablespoons of water. (1/4 cup ground flax meal and 3/4 cup water.) Allow to rest 15 minutes and soak up the water.

Blend in a food processor or blender:

The above flax eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

While the processor/blender is running, drizzle3/4 cup vegetable oil into the mixture until it's well emulsified and frothy.

Mix the carrot mixture in with the sugar/flax/oil mixture.

Fill cupcakes close to the top of each cup. This batter doesn't rise much.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

8 cups of gluten-free powdered sugar

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) or vegan butter (Earth Balance works well)

3 Tablespoons non-dairy milk

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoon lemon juice

pinch of salt

Cook's Tip:If you grate/shred the butter into the powdered sugar, you can mix everything by hand until smooth. The smaller pieces blend faster.

Recipe makes 18 cupcakes.

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen by (camera shy) Mike Farrell.

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