For about one day last week, I saw the most amazing thing: Lawn.
This year, we’re 3rd in the nation for snowfall, clocking in at 108 inches so far. The number of snow days for kids…well, let’s just say I heard actual whoops of joy from parents dropping their kids off at school one morning after a particularly brutal stretch of snow days.
The calendar says it’s spring now, so despite all the white evidence to the contrary, I’m just going will it so: It’s Spring.
These Spring Carrot Cupcakes are a variation of my Morning Glory muffins, sugared up with some cream cheese frosting and a few jelly beans pulled early from the Easter basket stash.
To bump up the goodness in my muffins, I add in some flax and chia seeds. Totally optional of course, I source mine from Gerbs. Generally speaking, these muffins are just awesome. They freeze beautifully, frosting and all. Perfect for packing in lunches. I suspect the huge amount of oil accounts for their keeping ability. You can cut the amount down if you’d like, let me know how it works out.
Oh, and if you don’t have some fun Wilton decorating tips yet, go to Hobby Lobby or online to Amazon and buy a set. I used the grass/fur tip, Wilton has a nice little video on how to do this. It doesn’t take much longer to pipe grass than simply frosting with a knife…but the wow factor for the kids is totally worth it.
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Spring Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
Description
The carrot cupcakes are dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. The dairy-free cream cheese frosting can be decorated however you want. Have fun.
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 apple, cored and grated
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 1/2 cup golden raisins (or regular raisins)
- 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1/4 cup dairy-free milk thickened with 1 t. cider vinegar ( I use Silk PureCoconut)
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Optional Mix-Ins ( 2 T. chia seeds, 2 T. flax Seeds, 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Mix the shredded carrots, apple, pineapple, coconut, raisins, sugar, oil and the dairy-free milk/vinegar mixture in a medium bowl.
- Measure the flour, soda, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Dump the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together carefully, until just blended.
- Scoop the batter into paper-lined muffin tins, about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set on top and they start to smell good.
- Remove from muffin pan and cool on a rack before frosting.
Notes
If you have a food processor with a grating disk, now is the time to use it.
See my posts on dairy-free butter and dairy-free milk alternatives if you need sources.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
Description
This is my basic dairy-free cream cheese frosting, it goes perfectly with carrot cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup dairy-free cream cheese, I used Tofutti
- 1/4 cup dairy-free margarine, softened.
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 2–2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1–2 T. dairy-free milk
Instructions
- Cream the cream cheese and margarine together with a mixer.
- Add the vanilla and powdered sugar.
- At this point, I just add some milk and then some powdered sugar, messing around trying to get the perfect “pipe-able” consistency. To make grass, the frosting needs to be fairly thick or your grass will turn to puddles.
Notes
This makes enough to frost generously with a knife, if you’re planning to pipe on piles of frosting, you might want to double this recipe.
See my posts on dairy-free butter and dairy-free milk alternatives if you need sources.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Mixed
- Cuisine: American
Happy Spring. Please. I’m begging.
How do you make it look like grass. Is it a type of cake decorating nozzle?
Yes! It’s a grass/fur tip. I updated the post, because I didn’t do a good job explaining how the grass happens!
http://www.wilton.com/technique/Grass
You can thicken dairy-free milk?! Does this work to substitute for buttermilk?
You always have good ideas and I’m so grateful for the research you do and the work you put into sharing. Thank you!
Sure can! It works for both soy and coconut milk, not so great with rice milk, but I don’t bake with rice milk anyway.
Oh my goodness. You just opened up a whole new set of options for me–again! Thank you!
I make cream sauces and frosting with soy milk all the time. Add vinegar to make buttermilk. You can Google how much vinegar to add. Add dairy free margerine and flour for cream sauce!
I’ve never made egg-less carrot anything, I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks