Thursday, January 04, 2007

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes Take Over!

And, surprise! They're good for you.

Yet another great cupcake from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. These were a big hit for my brother Jorden's birthday at Mom's the day we found out that John's Aunt Pris had passed away.

I have to admit that I de-veganized these by using dairy yogurt instead of soy yogurt, and neufchatel cheese and butter in my frosting, but the original recipe is vegan. Here it is:

Carrot Cake Cupcakes


Ingredients

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup sugar (I used agave nectar)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (use 1/4 cup if you use agave nectar)
1/3 cup soy yogurt (plain or vanilla) (I used a grain-sweetened dairy yogurt in peach flavor)
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used vanilla paste)
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins

Frosting of your choice (I made up a frosting from vegan rice protein powder, neufchatel cheese, butter, vanilla paste, and agave nectar. I'm probably going to make it differently next time, though, since it turned out to be gritty.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners (I used mini cupcake pans and had extra batter that filled two mini pie pans).
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices), and mix until smooth. Fold in carrots, walnuts and raisins.
3. Spray the cupcake liners with non-stick baking spray. Fill the liners 2/3 full. Bake for 26-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the center of one comes out clean.
4. Once fully colled, top generously with cream cheese frosting.

It was my first time using pastry tips, so I had a variety of different designs. Those that weren't so pretty were dipped into chopped walnuts to make them look like I meant to do that.

I also filled these tiny gems by poking a hole in the middle of the tops of each cupcake with my index finger, then using a medium round tip to fill with frosting. My family was pretty impressed. I just enjoyed how much fun it was to make them.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, the vegan creamcheese frosting in the book is really excellent - you could try that next time. However, one wonders why you are using a vegan recipe and when you are not in fact vegan..? Regular dairy'n egg carrot cupcake recipes are in much greater abundance; adaptation usually runs in the other direction.

Deb Schiff said...

Thanks for your comment. To answer your questions/comments:

1. The frosting in the book uses sugar, and I use agave nectar, so I'm a bit challenged when it comes to frosting. I have another blog that focuses on that challenge: http://alteredplates.blogspot.com, Altered Plates.

2. I had been vegan (2 years) as well as strictly vegetarian (15) prior to marrying my husband and lessening my restrictions a little. One of the top reasons I like using Isa's recipes is that they're so flexible. I'm also not a big fan of soy, although I do eat some soy products.

Come again soon!

Anonymous said...

Hey!

I tried this recipe as well, and the cupcakes came out a bit too sweet and gooey, even though I respected most of the ingrediences except the walnuts.

Has this ever happenend to you? Maybe I didn't cook them long enough?
Thanks

Deb Schiff said...

Usually it's the other way for me. My suggestion -- get an oven thermometer. Did you test the cupcakes first with a toothpick for doneness?

Jane said...

I love this recipe and have cooked them loads of times and they turn browner than i expected when they're done. Anonymous, I've had the same problem as you for this reason, you just need to leave them in the oven a little longer and dont open the door while they;re cooking!

A Girl Named Mo said...

I'm really excited to try this recipe this weekend for a co-workers birthday. I unfortunately do not have time to make it to a library to borrow the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Do you have a vegan frosting recipe that would be appropriate for the cupcakes? And have you ever used this recipe for mini-cupcakes?

Deb Schiff said...

Hey Mo,
Thanks for the comment -- my other blog has a few options for frosting you might be interested in trying: http://alteredplates.blogspot.com/search?q=frosting
Good luck!

Carrie said...

In your list, you have the ingredients as:

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/4 teaspoon baking soda

That's a typo, right? 2/3 cup of flour doesn't seem like it would be enough, and 2/4 tsp is the same as 1/2... What are the actual numbers here?

Thank you!
Carrie

Deb Schiff said...

Hi Carrie,
Thanks for catching the baking soda mistake. I've now corrected it -- s/b 3/4 teaspoon.
The flour amount is correct.

D.