Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.

 These delicious carrot cupcakes are very moist and spongy. This is an adaptation of a traditional recipe from the United States  for people who follow a gluten free diet or have celiac disease, so they can also enjoy their consistency and flavor. Their taste is consistent with the typical carrot cake flavor, which is the result of the combination of carrots, nuts and raisins with the sweet spices.  

The secret: I use coconut flour gluten free @redbobmill. 
I know that sometimes this flour is not easy to find, so you could substitute it for something that keeps the moisture such as almond flour and tapioca flour. I do not recommend the use of rice flour or regular gluten free mix flour with rice and chickpea starch; it will turn them dry. But, of course during these times, use what you have in your pantry.

These cupcakes are super easy to make with the kids.  We cooked them with the family at home and it was a lot of fun. Your hand whisker and wooden spoon are all you need to prep with. Leave the friendly electric mixer just for the frosting.

Ingredients for 12 Cupcakes.

 ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons of Coconut Flour

1 tea spoon of  Psyllium Husk (a good substitute is potato starch)

1 ½  cups of fine grated carrots

½ cup raisins

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup of brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of lemon 

70 ml Grapeseed oil  ( It could be substituted with vegetable oil or butter)

½  tea spoon baking soda.

1 tea spoon of baking soda

½ tea spoon of salt

¼ Shredded coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla

      Sweet spices: 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg y ½ teaspoon ground ginger

For the Frosting

8 oz  Cream Cheese Philadelphia 

3/4 cup of confectioner sugar,

1 teaspoon of lemon

 shredded coconut

Let’s prep

1-      Preheat the oven to 350° F and oil a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.

            Combine in a bowl, with the help of a hand whisker, all the dry ingredients with exception of  the sugar (you’d also need to sieve your flour a couple of times). Add to this the carrots,   raisins,  walnuts and coconut.

3-      Whisk (lightly) the eggs in another bowl with the vanilla and keep aside.

4-      Stir the sugar and oil in a bowl and then combine with the eggs and the dry ingredients.

5-      Pour in the mix into paper liners or tin and bake in oven for about 25”. The cupcakes are ready when you insert small stick in them, and it comes out fairly clean.  Sometimes their cooking time is only 20“, depending of your oven, just pay attention to the scent in your kitchen.

For the Frosting

In your electric mixer beat the cream cheese into a soft cream, add at low speed the sugar and lemon.  Beat 3 more minutes on medium, pour the frosting in a pastry and keep it in the fridge until is time to use it.  Golden the rest of the coconut in a pan at a low fire for about 5 min, and then use for decoration. 

Wait util the cupcakes have cooled down enough, at room temperature, and then Enjoy! They go very well with an Earl Grey tea.

For this recipe, I adapted one of Martha Stewart’s carrot cupcakes amongst others.

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