Baking Disaster of the Week - Carrot Cake Cupcakes

carrot cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Sara Manning

Now that we are finally clear of the holiday season, my spouse has been bugging me to figure out how to make a carrot cake we both could eat. I decided to go for cupcakes rather then a cake as I seem to have good luck with items shaped like muffins. Don't ask, there really is no logic there!

I found a recipe online from Rachel's Recipe Box: The Gluten Free Family called Baby'sFirst Birthday Carrot Cupcakes. I substituted honey for the brown sugar, and fresh lemon juice for the vinegar, using rice milk as the milk substitute. They took forever to cook, I had a lot of difficulty due to the amount of liquid. If I was to press the extra liquid out of the carrot and remembered to drain my freshly crushed pineapple (oops!) then it would cook the way it is supposed to. Even though I messed that up, and the order in which to add some of the ingredients (again, oops, too many distractions!) this recipe tastes really yummy. It does take some time to prepare, but it is definitely work it, and I look forward to improving on it for next time :D

Making carrot cupcakes I had to find icing for them! I tried this online recipe from Elana's Pantry called Coconut Cream Frosting. It was way to sweet for the both of us, but if you like intensely sweet icing with a nice mild flavour then give it a shot. I also had some issues with the texture, likely because I screwed up when I was to add the arrowroot starch, and ending up having to bring it to a boil twice instead of the once it instructed. As soon as I completed blending it, it started separating, so was a little chunky and unpleasant looking, but it did not effect taste or texture once it was in your mouth. I am also wondering if I cut the 1 cup of agave in here down to 1/2 or even 1/4 cup if it would work out better for a non sweet-tooth like me.

I also gave one of my wedding presents a try, heart shaped silicon muffin/cupcake pans. I was pretty pleased with the results. I did oil them very slightly to ease removal, and removal was pretty easy, with only a few getting messed up in my clumsy eagerness to get them out.

I am still on the search for icing which is more like cream cheese icing, but without the dairy, or the cane sugar. Let you know when I find a winner! Feel free to share one of yours :D