When vegetables become dessert

I’ve got to be honest- carrot cake is not my favorite cake flavor. Yep, it’s true, you’ve caught me. But I think that’s mostly because I don’t like raisins and it seems that most carrot cakes (at least back in the day) had them. I mean, besides the whole carrots being in a dessert thing…I mean who originally thought of this craziness?? Carrots are sweet, but come on… I kid. They (like zucchini) do oddly work in desserts in some magical kind of a way.

I do like this (raisin free) recipe though, because it uses crushed pineapple instead to add extra flavor, sweetness, and moistness (sorry, there still isn’t a better word!)

I learned about this addition from my friend’s mom, who just so happens to be a carrot cake baker extrodanaire. Now, she uses sprinkles on top of her finished and frosted cake, but I’ve gone a bit weird and decided to top mine with mossy sugar cookie bunny ear toppers (say that 3 x fast). If you’d like to go a bit weird too and make these little cuties, the link to the recipe is down below. But if you haven’t the time nor patience for that, sprinkles seem like a perfectly acceptable alternative.

And by the way, about those raisins.. if you’re a fan, feel free to go ahead and add them cause remember, this is a judgement-free zone.

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcakes

• 195 g ( 1 1/2 C + 2 T ) all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt (I use Diamond, half the amount if using Morton)

• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon (ground)

• 125 g ( 1/2 C + 2 T) superfine or granulated sugar (organic, vegan-friendly)

• 150 g (1 1/2 C ) carrots, shredded (about 2-3 large carrots)

• 140 g (2/3 C) plant milk ( room temp, I used extra creamy oat)

• 1 T apple cider vinegar ( can sub with white )

• 115 g (1/3 C) pineapple, blended to liquid (either canned chunks in juice or fresh work)

• 1/3 C oil (neutral, I like grapeseed or vegetable)

• 35 g (1 / 4 C ) walnuts (roasted and finely chopped/ processed)

• 35 g (1 / 4 C ) pecans (roasted and finely chopped/ processed)

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (pure)

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz vegan cream cheese (room temp.)

• 113 g ( 1/2 C ) unsalted vegan butter (room temp- softened, but not super soft)

• 300 g- 450 g ( 2 1/4 C- 3 1/2 C ) icing/ powder sugar, sifted

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1/4 tsp. salt (if using table salt or Morton, use 1/8 tsp. *can leave out if using salted butter)

You will need:

• Cupcake tin(s)

• Cupcake liners

• Hand or stand mixer (for frosting)

• Scale/measuring cups + spoons

• Two large bowls- if not using a stand mixer (one for cupcakes, one for buttercream)

• Food processor or blender

• Cooling rack

• Whisk + spatula

• Sifter

• Spoons or ice cream scooper

• Small baking sheet ( for roasting nuts )

Products used:

• Kite Hill Cream Cheese- This is by far my favorite vegan cream cheese- use whatever is yours.

• Flora Unsalted Butter- Miyoko’s is another go to fave

• King Arthur All Purpose Flour- you don’t have to use KA, but try to stay away from the bleached lot

• Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt- the chef’s salt…it’s less salty than table salt or Morton

Prep:

• Bring milk to room temp

• Add vinegar to milk (let set about 5 minutes)

• Bring butter to room temp (for frosting)

• Finely chop carrots in a food processor (if you have one) or dice with a sharp knife. I like to use the pre shredded ones to make life easier

• Process pineapple chunks and juice in the same food processor- don’t bother cleaning it out after there carrots

• Line cupcake tins

Helpful Notes:

Butter- Unless your recipe calls for melted or cold butter (some do), you’ll most likely want yours to be room temp. You know your butter is room temp when you can easily make an indent with your finger (eww, I know) or a spoon into the butter. It should be soft and pliable, but not runny and melty. If you forget to take the butter out to come to room temp, you can use the microwave, but it can be a bit tricky and go melty fast on you, especially vegan butter because it’s made of more water. Best to leave it out to soften naturally, but in a pinch, do short 10 second bursts in the microwave and flip the butter often so it does’t start to melt on one side. As for the type of butter, if you can’t find unsalted vegan butter, try reducing the salt in the recipe by 1/2 - it’s hard to say exactly because the amount of salt will very from butter to butter, but 1/2 is probably a safe bet.

Milk- Use whichever plant milk you prefer. I like a creamy, plain and unsweetened oat, but a lot of people prefer soy- it all works. In a baking recipe, unless otherwise stated, you want all of your ingredients to be room temp- especially the milk. Room temperature sounds very broad, I mean rooms can be lots of different temperatures. So what does that mean? Technically between 68 and 72 degrees farenheit, but practically, it means you can stick your finger in it and feel nothing. Think of it this way, if it’s too warm you’ll think to yourself “yep, that’s warm” and if it’s too cold, you’ll think, “ooh, that’s cold”. When it’s room temp, it’s nothing…I know it sounds weird, but here we are… To get your milk to room temp quickly, you can pour it a bowl or glass measuring cup and pop it in the microwave for 20-35 seconds (depending on the amount and the microwave).

Cream Cheese- Set out 5-30 minutes before making frosting. Vegan cream cheese is typically in spread form, so it takes less time to soften than traditional cream cheese (see more in frosting section)

Salt- Diamond Crystal Kosher is my preference, but if you use Morton or table salt, reduce the amount by half as Diamond is less salty than the two.

Sugar- to make sure it’s vegan, use organic as it does not use bone char (yes, it’s as bad as it sounds) in the processing like conventional sugar.

Vinegar- I use apple cider in this recipe, but white works just as well. We use vinegar to curdle plant milk, which produces a buttermilk-like substance. Vinegar also reacts with raising agents (baking soda + powder) to give vegan baked goods a nice rise.

Oil- I typically use vegan butter in my cake recipes, except when it comes to chocolate and carrot cakes. Oil helps to keep the cakes nice and… moist (dammit, I said it again). I prefer grapeseed to vegetable for health reasons, but if vegetable or canola are all you’ve got, then go for one of those. A light olive or avocado oil might work nicely in this recipe too, however, I haven’t tried.

Measuring- Listen, just go ahead and get a scale! They’re cheap and the most accurate for baking. I use them to develop my recipes and do the best I can to convert to the cup measurements out of courtesy to those who don’t have one. But trust me, if you like to bake, it will be the best $20 dollars you spend to improve your recipes. If you still refuse, make sure that you use the scoop and level method to measure out your dry ingredients.

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350° F

Directions:

1. Place nuts on a baking sheet and roast in the oven on the middle rack, about 8-10 minutes or until slightly toasted and fragrant- careful not to burn!

2. Turn oven down to 320° F

3. Finely grind the nuts in a food processor or high-powered blender- set aside- if you like a bit more texture in your cupcake, you can process them into small chunks, but that is not my preference- it’s up to you.

4. Process the pineapple chunks into a sort-of crushed pineapple liquid situation with a food processor or high-power blender- set aside.

5. Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. If you are using chunky granulated sugar (most vegan-friendly sugar is), it may not sift, so just add it to the sifted flour.

6. Add the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt- mix with a whisk or mixer until nicely combined ( about 30 seconds).

7. Add oil, milk/vinegar mixture, vanilla, and pineapple to the dry ingredients and stir with a whisk or mix on low speed of your mixer until just combined- about 30-40 seconds.

8. With a spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything gets incorporated in the final mix.

9. Add in carrots and nuts and mix again by hand with a whisk, until just incorporated- about 20 seconds.

10. With an ice cream scoop or spoons, fill tins 2/3 of the way with batter.

11. Place cupcakes on the middle rack and bake 18-23 minutes (depending on your oven and your pan color ) or until tops spring back when pressed and a toothpick comes out clean-cupcakes continue to cook after they come out of the oven so if there are a couple of small crumbs, that’s ok.

12. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from tin and place on a cooling rack until completely cooled.
    

    
    
    

Top Tip

Vegan cream cheese frosting can be a bit more temperamental than regular American-style buttercream

And full disclosure, at the time of making this recipe, I ran out icing sugar (yeah, it happens). But I was tired and ready to move on to the next thing, so I just pressed on without it and as a result, my frosting suffered a bit from it (bad blogger!). However, if you find that even after fully following the recipe, you have soupy or melty frosting (which could be due to things like kitchen temperature or brand of cream cheese used), there are some things you can do to fix this problem.

• First off, if your frosting is too runny for your liking, you could add more powder/icing sugar to the mix. However, if you’re like me and prefer a frosting that isn’t too sweet, this can be a problem. So something that I’ve used in the past is cornstarch! It acts just like powdered sugar, but is pretty much flavor less, so it can come in handy.

• Next, I find it’s best to leave the cream cheese in the refrigerator until just about 5 to 30 minutes before using, since vegan cream cheese is softer and whippy-er than say Philadelphia block style. I’m hoping that one day Kite Hill will make a block version ( please vegan gods, answer my call), but until they do, I find the less it sits out the better. Do take in consideration the time of year and the temperature of your kitchen though…you may need 5 minutes in the summer and 30 in the dead of winter in a not so warm kitchen.

• Lastly, consider the mixing- you want to go low and slow and don’t mix for too long, as it is possible for the frosting to start to break down or get air bubbles.

Cream cheese frosting

Directions:

1. Bring out the cream cheese to come to room temp- 5-20 minutes before making (see helpful notes above).

2. Sift your powder sugar. I mean, you don’t have to, but it helps…

3. Place room temp butter in a bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and blend on a low speed (for my stand mixer, the setting is “Stir”) until soft and creamy- about 2 minutes.

4. Add in the cream cheese and continue to mix on low until the cream cheese has fully incorporated in the butter- about 2- 3 minutes.

5. Add in half of the sifted powder sugar to the butter/cream cheese mixture and mix on a low speed until sugar has incorporated and the mixture starts to look like frosting.

6. Add more of the sugar and continue to mix on low until the frosting forms. My advice is to add in more sugar slowly until you get the right sweetness and consistency for you. You know, easier to add than take away- I typically end up using a total of 330- 350 grams (about 2 1/2- 2 3/4 cups) of the sugar, but you could add up to 450 grams (about 3 1/2 cups) depending on how you like it.

7. Add in the vanilla and a teaspoon of milk ( I think it adds a nice flavor), but you can leave it out if you’d like- continue to mix on low for another 30 seconds.

8. If you feel like the frosting is too runny, add some starch (about 1 tablespoon at a time) until your happy with the texture.

9. Scrape down the sides (and bottom ) of the bowl to catch any clumps of sugar, butter, or cream cheese. Mix again on low until soft and fluffy and add in the salt. Mix one more time on low speed- about 1 minute.

10. If you’re happy with the taste and texture, you’re ready to frost! If not, adjust accordingly.

11. Make sure your cupcakes are completely cooled before you frost them.

12. Dollop or pipe the cream cheese frosting on top of the cupcakes, then enjoy!

13. If you want to make the mossy bunny ear cookie toppers, see recipe here.

I hope you enjoy these simple carrot cupcakes. If you do, leave us a comment and let us know!

Thanks for stopping by-

xx Debbie, Shorty, + Sophie