Grain & Egg Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes. (Gluten Free/Vegan/Soy free with directions to make sugar free)

Experimenting with alternative flours is extremely exciting for me. My recent time spent with Chestnut Flour has been no exception. It bakes up extremely light and fluffy, has a nice nutty slightly sweet flavor and tastes phenomenal with warm spices. Its baked goods have a light brown color, but yet do not have that heavy “whole grain” taste that we often associate with darker flours.

I found that this awesome flour worked great in graham crackers and most recently to make fluffy pancakes. I wanted to take things a step further and see how it would behave being used as a singular flour and without the eggs.  These cupcakes are the happy result of this experimentation. Just by looking at the beautiful crumb structure, I’m sure you will agree that Chestnut flour is a superstar.

Different varieties of sugar create different levels of moisture! Cake and Muffin recipes tend to be pretty flexible and forgiving when it comes to this range. I call for granulated sugar in this recipe.  I feel confident that you should be able to get away with subbing in whichever variety works best for you- be it organic cane, Sucanat, Palm Sugar, Xylitol and on. Just stick with a granulated variety for best results. 

Chestnut flour flour can be a bit tricky to find- though I have seen it popping up all over the place in my area lately. I recommend ordering some online- there are a number of great companies that carry it!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

1/4 Cup Applesauce
1/2 Cup Milk (any variety)
1/4 Cup Oil or Melted Butter (any mild flavored variety)
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 Cup Chestnut Flour
1 Tbs Cinnamon 
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar (*see note above)
2 Tsp Baking Powder (I like to use Double Acting)
pinch of salt 
1 Cup Grated Carrots
1/2 Cup Raisins (optional)
1/2 Cups Chopped Walnuts (optional)
1 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (Or lemon/lime juice) 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line  a muffin tray with 10-12 liners.
2. Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the dry- and stir until the batter comes together. Mixing in the Vinegar last.
3. Quickly pour the batter into the cups and place into the oven and bake 30 minutes. (Cupcakes will be finished when toothpick comes out clean.)

Notes: The raisins and walnuts can be left out! If you choose to leave out the raisins you may want to consider increasing the sugar in the batter to 1 full cup. (Depending how sweet you like your carrot cake!).  If you leave out these ingredients you will only need 10  liners.

For the frosting I used my Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting (its totally Soy/Dairy/Nut Free!). This recipe can be found in the frosting section of both of my new cookbooks The Essential Gluten Free Baking Guides Part 1 & Part 2.

And Speaking of my Books! As part of Celiac Awareness Month Wellesse a fantastic certified gluten free vitamin company is giving away several signed copies of my books this month on their Facebook Page! (as well as a number of other great gifts!) Stop over for a chance to win! 

xo,

Brittany