Think classic carrot cake with all natural and alternative ingredients and jam packed
with flavor.
This is Liv Baking and these are my carrot cake cupcakes.
Bigger Bolder Baking is all about giving you the confidence to bake anytime anywhere.
My Liv Baking recipes are gonna show you how to use alternative ingredients to make dessert
your way.
Think dessert customized.
All carrot cake cupcakes start out with a batter.
We’re going to be making a cake batter with some almond flour.
A little bit of coconut flour.
Next up we’ve got our raising agent, it’s gonna make everything nice and fluffy.
And now lets talk about our spices.
You cannot have carrot cake without a little spice.
I’ve got a mix of cinnamon and ginger here.
So we’re gonna go right in with that.
And if you don’t have ginger or don’t like it as spicy feel free to use all cinnamon
in this case.
Last but not least, salt is going to balance out all the sweetness from the carrot and
the raisons.
So now we’re gonna give this a whisk.
Almond flour is actually just almonds that have been ground into a fine powder and same
goes for coconut flour.
So I like to use these in place of a wheat based flour because they bring a lot of moisture,
they’re a good source of healthy fat and they also have a lot of fiber.
If you see some lumps here and there in your almond flour that’s totally normal, just
go ahead and work those out.
So this is gonna be the base for our dry ingredients, now we’re gonna move on to our wet ingredients.
We’re gonna start out in this nice big jug, Gem always mixes her wet ingredients in a
jug and I love to do it this way too.
It keeps everything in one place and keeps it nice and clean and you can really see that
you’ve got the right ratios.
First up is coconut oil, feel free to use butter or ghee in this case if you prefer.
And then to that, we’re gonna use two eggs.
If you don’t eat eggs or are allergic to them, absolutely replace these with a flax
egg.
That would actually make these cupcakes entirely vegan.
So the next thing that’s gonna go into our ingredients is a little vanilla.
And last but not least the final thing that’s going into our wet ingredients is our maple
syrup.
This is actually a sugar free syrup based in monk fruit, but if you want to use regular
maple syrup or honey, those work too.
So now we’re just gonna give this a nice whisk and make sure that the eggs are completely
combined with the oil and the maple syrup.
So just like any batter now we’re gonna add our wet ingredients to our dry.
So we’re just gonna give this a nice whisk and make sure that everything is combined.
You’ll see that the batter gets nice and thick that’s the coconut flour absorbing
all the liquid.
You’ll see a nice golden color from the cinnamon it even smells cinnamon-y already.
So I’m sure you’re all wondering, where’s the carrot cake right?
So we’re gonna add in loads of freshly grated carrots.
So, do not be tempted to buy pre-grated carrots you really wanna grate your own here.
I grated mine on a cheese grater but feel free to use a food processor or whatever works
for you.
We’re gonna start to fold in our carrots.
I don’t know if you can tell, but the ratio of carrots to cake is about 50-50 and that’s
how you know this is gonna be full of carroty flavor it’s gonna be super moist and have
that earthy flavor of the carrots with the cinnamon that’s really gonna spice it up.
And now our extra fun stuff.
So, this is flaked coconut make sure to use unsweetened coconut,.
And… raisins.
So, let’s talk about raisins.
Some people don’t like dried fruit.
Some people like their carrot cake with more of a tropical vibe and put pineapple in there.
This is an opportunity to really be creative.
If you don’t like raisins but like golden raisins by all means add that in there.
As long as you’ve got the carrot and you keep the ratios of the other mix-ins the same
you can pretty much do whatever you like.
Now we’re gonna turn this carrot cake batter into cupcakes.
Now I’m gonna scoop out some of the batter, look how thick that is, full of all the goodies.
I’m doing these about two thirds of the way full.
So now that our cupcakes are all full we’re going to bake these off.
We’re gonna bake these at 350 degrees Fahrenheit which is about 180 degrees celsius for 20
to 30 minutes and you’ll see they’re gonna puff up and get nice and golden brown.
And now we’re gonna get started on our sneaky no-cream cheese frosting.
Thanks to a little bit of nice thick greek yogurt we’re gonna get that nice tangy flavor
that you get with a cream cheese frosting.
Next we’re gonna do some coconut cream.
This is coconut cream that is nice and cold which is really important it’s gonna help
everything whip up and keep our frosting nice and thick.
And now a bit of vanilla going in.
And last but not least this is our sugar substitute this is a monk fruit based sugar but you can
totally use regular sugar or swerve you could use a couple drops of stevia.
We’re gonna hit this with our hand mixer.
If you have a Stan mixer you can absolutely use that as well.
Since the coconut cream is nice and cold it’s gonna take a little bit to work out so just
keep going and the frosting will be done when it’s nice and rich and creamy.
Check that out.
So the last thing we’re gonna do is give it a little taste.
It’s so good.
What we’re really looking for here is that the sugar is fully dissolved.
Now it’s time for the best part I’m gonna show you how to decorate your cupcakes.
When your cupcakes are done they’re gonna be nice and golden brown.
So we’re gonna set these aside to cool completely.
What you might not know is at Bigger Bolder Baking we take a lot of time and put a lot
of care into styling our desserts.
In the case of these cupcakes I’m gonna be styling them on this really really pretty
stand and I’m gonna bring in this nice and colorful cloth.
We’re just gonna transfer our cupcakes to our cupcake stand.
So now I’m gonna grab a spoon.
One of the things I love about this frosting is that you don’t have to pipe it.
You can really see how nice and thick it is.
So we’re just gonna dollop nice generous amounts of frosting onto our cupcakes.
We’re gonna go back with our butter knife and just swirl the frosting on top.
What I’m looking for here is a nice little peak.
I mean, those are carrot cake cupcakes.
So in the case of these cupcakes we’re gonna add some toasted coconut.
I’m gonna do half on each cupcake.
I love when things have sort of a graphic touch to them.
So you’ve got the nice bright white frosting and the orange of the cupcake peeking out
from underneath and just that half moon shape of the coconut I think really pops it out.
To complete our scene I’m gonna add in this vase with some fresh flowers.
I love to use flowers and greenery in my photography I think it really adds a nice prop.
And look at this, look how inviting and springy this is.
So let’s slice right in look at those raisins popping out and the carrot.
You can see all the texture from the coconut and the oozy frosting.
I love carrot cake so I could not be more excited to try these.
Honestly the smell has been taunting me the entire time we’ve been putting together
this scene so, time to go in for our taste.
Shall we?
Hands down, probably one of the best carrot cakes I’ve made.
It’s just perfectly balanced that’s why I love carrot cake it’s got earthy carrot
and the cinnamon and something about the cream cheese frosting which I have to pat myself
on the back there because it tastes just like the real thing.
These are the quintessential carrot cake cupcakes but they’re made your way.
The recipe is on BiggerBolderBaking.com I cannot wait to hear what you guys think.