Ahh… Spring is in the air! Such a relief to finally have consistent sunshine and tolerable weather. I don’t know about you, but I often times feel like I truly bloom with the foliage in spring! I love everything about this season, including Easter. When I think of Easter, I think of hunting for that basket on Sunday morning, spending time with loved ones, and stuffing my face with my mom’s age-old carrot cake recipe!
This year I decided to transform her recipe into a healthified version, and let me tell you guys it’s phenomenal! All it takes is a little bit of creativity and healthy substitute options to transform a recipe that would make you feel guilty, to one that I’d recommend for breakfast!
This recipe is completely vegan and can be made 100% gluten free thanks to Native Forest Products. They are sustainably sourced and totally organic, which means that I can trust serving their products in my recipes to my whole family! These carrot cake muffins are so pillowy yet have the best crunch from the nuts and coconut.
Carrots are a wonderful source of the precursor for beta-carotene or vitamin A (retinol), which is a powerful antioxidant that protects our skin giving us that beautiful glow. After all, you are what you eat right? So why not eat carrot cake and get that healthy skin and bright eyed look? 🙂
We are relying heavily on coconut here. Yes, pure coconut cream and shredded dried coconut are a huge player in this recipe. It brings a fullness to the muffins that makes it satisfying to chew, and leaves a delicate but fresh flavor in your mouth after eating one (or 3). These carrot cake muffins will be a hit at your family party this year and you can feel good about serving your loved ones ingredients that will make them feel good.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 flax eggs (see notes)
- ¾ cup coconut oil melted
- ¾ cup almond milk mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cups coconut sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat all purpose flour
- 3 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 8 oz or 1 cup of crushed pineapple undrained (we will use the rest later)
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup flaked coconut
Directions
Combine eggs, oil, milk mixture, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Slowly combine dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Once incorporated, add in the carrots, pineapple, raisins, pecans, and coconut and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Pour batter into 2 cupcake pans, will make about 20 muffins. Bake at 350 for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Coconut Cream Frosting:
Take 2 cans of coconut cream and put them in the fridge overnight (this is pertinent to the consistency of the frosting, otherwise it will be too runny). Open the cans and remove the stiff portion of the coconut cream into a medium sized bowl.Separate the coconut milk out into a container and set aside. Beginning beating the solid coconut cream on the low setting.
Pour about 1 tbsp of the coconut milk back into the frosting to create more of a spreadable consistency. Add in 2 tbsp powdered sugar, continue beating. Dump in 2 tbsp of the crushed pineapple (drained and pressed of all liquid this time). Combine until smooth. Depending on the consistency, you may add more coconut milk to thin or powdered sugar to thicken.
Notes
- (1 flax egg = 1 tbsp ground flax seeds + 2 ½ tbsp water, let sit in fridge for 15 minutes and will turn to consistency of an egg). You can use 3 eggs otherwise
- Combine the almond milk and the lemon juice and let sit for 5 minutes before combining to wet ingredients to mimic buttermilk. You can use actual buttermilk but I preferred to keep this recipe vegan.
- Coconut sugar is an awesome low glycemic substitute for bleached white sugar. I highly highly recommend it as I use it in the majority of my baking recipes.
- If you only have all purpose white bleached flour, that is okay! Now may be the time to start exploring with other options. I used half gluten free and half whole wheat to keep a balance of fluffy-ness and density.
- You will still have a small amount of pineapple and coconut left after this recipe has been
