How to make healthy carrot cake cupcakes
2nd Apr 2023 Recipes
Looking for a delicious treat to make this Easter? These moist, healthy carrot cake cupcakes are delicately spiced with a fragrant blend of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg
Made with whole-wheat flour, ground almonds and no added fats (just applesauce to replace the traditional oil or butter), these healthy carrot cake cupcakes make a perfect guilt-free bake and are great for dessert or as part of a festive brunch.
"These healthy carrot cake cupcakes make a perfect guilt-free bake"
The creamy icing is made with thick coconut yogurt, maple syrup and lemon zest. For best results, do not ice the cupcakes in advance but do so right before serving. This will prevent them from going soggy.
Note
This vegan recipe calls for a “flax egg”: a mixture of flaxseed and water.
Preparation: 10 minutes
Baking time: 22-24 minutes
Serves 12
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 3 tbsps water
- 150ml full-fat (sugar-free) oat milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 150g carrots
- 230g whole-wheat flour
- 20g ground almonds
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 50g walnuts, chopped (plus extra to decorate)
- 190g unsweetened applesauce
- 50g coconut sugar
For the icing
- 200g coconut yoghurt
- 3 tbsps maple syrup
- Zest of 1 (organic) lime
Photo credit: Hans Westbeek
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- To make the flax egg, mix the flaxseed with the water and set aside.
- Mix the oat milk with the apple cider vinegar and leave to thicken.
- Peel and grate the carrots into a large bowl.
- Stir in the whole-wheat flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and walnuts.
- In a jug, whisk the flax egg, thickened oat milk, applesauce and coconut sugar.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter over the prepared muffin tin and bake the cupcakes for 22-24 minutes.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, whisk the coconut yogurt, maple syrup and lime zest.
- Ice the cupcakes and serve.
Read more: Amy-Beth Ellice's toffee apple cupcakes
Read more: How to make cinnamon rice pudding with plums
Keep up with the top stories from Reader's Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter
*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.