My co-worker/friend/honorary big brother T’s birthday was the other day. Perfect opportunity to try out a new cupcake recipe! T is a person who is super supportive and always in my corner no matter what. While we were out at the bar (fact: I have no shame bringing the cupcake hotel out to bars) a randomer offered to pay me for one of my cupcakes! It was my first sale as a baker, and T was more excited about it than me I think haha. He exclaimed “Now you’re a professional! Woohoo!!”  Gotta have people like that in your life =)
Adapted from: Cupcake Bakeshop
Yields: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 lb carrots, grated
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 TB lemon juice
  (the almond milk+lemon juice is a non-dairy substitution for buttermilk)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 TB finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger (purchased at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s only has it seasonally)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Frosting:

• 1/8 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
• 1/8 cup shorting
• 1 container Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese Plain
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• splash of almond milk

Candied Carrots:

• 2 peeled carrots
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2-4 TB sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine carrots, eggs, almond milk, lemon juice, vanilla, sugar, vegetable oil, fresh ginger, and candied ginger. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold flour mixture and pecans into the wet mixture. Fill cups 2/3’s full and bake 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are cooling you can make the frosting! Cream together butter, shortening, and cream cheese until fluffy. Add in vanilla, sugar, and milk and beat until well combined. Add additional milk as needed or until desired consistency is reached.

To candy the carrots, bring water and sugar to a boil in a small sauce pan. Reduce heat to low, add in carrots and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Pour carrots into a fine strainer and let completely cool. I ended up leaving mine out overnight. The end result wasn’t sweet enough for me so I started sprinkling on sugar until I thought they looked coated.

Pipe the frosting in a swirl pattern using a medium circular tip. Then sprinkle on candied carrots!