You may have heard, if we’re connected on Facebook, that this was my second attempt at making these little beauties, as while making the first attempt I forgot to put the carrot in.  Yes.  They were non-carrot carrot cake cupcakes.  They got offloaded to the neighbours kids, with them being bagged up and shoved into their hands before they could finish saying “What did you say you forgot to put in these?”

If you love really moist cakes, and you love carrot, and you love cupcakes, and you love frosting, you will LOVE these cupcakes!  I’m not a fan of raisins personally, but you can’t make carrot cake without them – although next time I would like to try dried cranberries to see what it’s like.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup plain flour
• 3/4 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used almond oil)
• 1/3 cup soy yogurt, plain or vanilla (I used vanilla)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated carrots (Make sure you don’t forget this bit!)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup raisins

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 deg.  Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, vegetable oil, yoghurt and vanilla extract.  Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, bicarb soda, baking powder, salt, spices) and mix until smooth.  Fold in carrots (again, make sure you don’t forget this bit!), walnuts and raisins.
3. Spray the cupcake liners with non-stick baking spray (I didn’t do this bit).  Fill the liners two-thirds full.  Bake for 26-28 mins, until a toothpick inserted through the centre of one comes out clean.
4. Once fully cooled, top generously with cream cheese frosting.

Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup non-dairy margarine, softened (I use Nuttelex)
• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, softened (I use Tofutti “Better Than Cream Cheese”)
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbs finely grated lemon zest (I used 1 drop lemon essential oil)

Method:

1. Cream together margarine and cream cheese until just combined.
2. Add the icing sugar in 1/2 cup batches.  Mix until smooth and creamy.
3. Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest/essential oil.
4. Pile onto cupcakes, and decorate if desired.

Adapted from: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World – Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero