Carrot Cake Cupcakes (dairy free)

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the Fall”

It’s Fall! It’s Fall! And I have some great Fall recipes coming your way! This one doesn’t have any pumpkins or apples, but it does have the fall spice flavors, and carrots – and those are orange and good for you – so they basically count 🙂 This one’s also dairy free, because everyone should be able to enjoy a cupcake, even if you can’t have dairy!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

3 large carrots, grated

1 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

4 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

pinch of salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

Pulse carrots in blender. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 48 mini cupcake liners in cupcake pans.

Mix oil, sugar, vanilla, and eggs in stand mixer. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients, mixing well. Then add carrots and mix until combined. Fill cupcakes liners about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

4 egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

I know everyone is used to cream cheese frosting with carrot cake, but trust me – this is an awesome flavor pairing too! Try it and you’ll see for yourself!

Place a large metal bowl over a saucepan of just boiling water – not touching the water. (I just used my metal stand mixer bowl so I wouldn’t have to transfer the mixture). In the bowl, add the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar and whisk until the sugar dissolves about 4-6 minutes. Transfer this to your stand mixer (or it’s already in your stand mixer 😉 ) and beat with whisk attachment to firm peaks. Add vanilla and beat to stiff peaks. Pipe onto room temperature cupcakes using a large round tip.

To get those nice dollops you’ll want to firmly squeeze the piping bag until you get a spherical marshmallow, then pull up, stop squeezing as you release the bag to get that cute little tip. For the toasting, use a hand- held kitchen torch (great investment!). I toasted just one side (Be sure not to hold the torch too long or too close in one spot at a time, and keep it away from the liners.), and added a few orange sprinkles to the other side as a little homage to the carrots! Mmm, should smell like fall in your kitchen by now!