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With Saturday being the Ashtangis’ traditional day of rest, Friday nights seem to incite my baking urges.  So last Friday I thought it would be fun to concoct a carrot cake, but decided to spice things up a little bit by going for the cupcake format.  Have you ever seen a carrot cupcake before?

You have to love the compactness of a cupcake.  It’s a single unit, a little cake all unto itself.  But one could easily make into a full-size cake too, though the cooking time might need to be increased slightly.

I’ve been increasingly averse to using refined sugar or overly-processed foods in my culinary creations these days, so I decided to make a cupcake without using granulated sugar.  And carrot cake isn’t exactly birthday cake —  it actually has vegetables in it — so it seemed like a good starting point.  These cupcakes get their sweetness from dried fruit, maple syrup, coconut milk, and applesauce.  And they are quite rich and tasty.

Carrot cake traditionally has cream cheese frosting.  Now, there are fake (“vegan”) cream cheeses out there on the market that aren’t terrible, but this is exactly the kind of stuff I’m generally trying to avoid.  In addition to the fact that these sorts of products tend to be highly processed (e.g., the popular Tofutti “Better than Cream Cheese” contains partially hydrogenated oils, a.k.a “trans fasts” and  corn-derived thickeners such as maltodrextin), my general philosophy on the matter is that if you’re constantly seeking out things to “imitate” meat or dairy, then you aren’t really satisfied with your plant-based diet and are operating in deprivation mode.  And, if that’s the case, it really is too bad, because the plant-based diet has so much more to offer in terms of variety, taste, and texture.  Imitations are always going to taste like imitations: not as good as the real thing.  And this reinforces the feeling of deprivation. But the world of plant-based foods is one of abundance, not scarcity.  As you start to awaken to this world of infinite culinary possibility, any feelings of deprivation will begin to fade.  So, when trying to solve a problem concerning vegan substitutions, I feel the best way to approach it is by asking what particular quality, taste, or texture  the conventional meat or dairy ingredient has that makes it so essential to the end result.  In the case of cream cheese frosting, you want something rich and creamy and dense.  So here I turned to raw cashews and coconut milk to make the frosting.  It might not taste “like” cream cheese frosting, but it’s rich and creamy and delicious on top of the carrot cake, which is, in my view, the goal.  And honestly, I think it’s better than the conventional frosting!  (Also, I can’t help but point out that most cream cheese frosting is like a nutritional train wreck: in addition to refined sugar and heavy cholesterol, non-organic versions will likely contain hormones, antibiotics, rennet, etc….)

I omitted the walnuts typically found in carrot cake because I made the frosting out of raw cashews and didn’t want to over-do it on the nuts. But feel free to add them if you wish.

This recipe makes exactly 9 cupcakes, if you fill the muffin pan cups almost full.

Creamy Cashew Frosting, Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup raw cashews (unsalted)
• 1/3 cup lite coconut milk (more or less)
• 4 large medjapool dates, pits removed, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes to soften
• 4 chunks of crystallized ginger  (could also used fresh ginger or ginger powder, but then add one more date)
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 tsp cardamom

Frosting Directions:

1. Process the cashews, ginger, dates, maple syrup and cardamom until combined into a thick paste, then add the coconut milk and process until desired consistency is achieved.  (You may wish/need to use more or less, so don’t put it all in at once).

2. Refrigerate the frosting for at least half an hour before frosting the cupcakes (also, make sure the cakes have cooled).

Cake Batter, Ingredients.

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or, if you must, all purpose flour)
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• about 1 1/2 cup grated carrot (this turns out to be about one really large carrot; I just ground it up in the food processor)
• 3 inch chunk fresh ginger root, minced (I ground mine up with the carrot in the food processor)
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in hot water to plump
• 1/4 cup chopped dried figs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup lite coconut milk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
• 1 T flax seed meal (a.k.a. ground flaxseed)
• 1/2 cup dried coconut flakes (unsweetened)
• 3 tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp clove powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

To make the cakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Oil a muffin pan or line it with paper muffin liners.

2.  Combine flours, cardamom, cinnamon, clove powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

3. Whisk together the flax seed meal in a small bowl with 3 Tablespoons of warm water, until it takes on a sort of jelly-ish texture (BTW, this is a good egg substitute in baking recipes).

4. In a smaller bowl,  mix  the flax seed mix with the coconut milk, coconut oil, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla.

5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and fold in the raisin, dried figs, and carrots.  Pour batter into muffin pans, filling them almost all the way to the top.

6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, using the toothpick test to determine if done.

7.  Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. (If you want, top with toasted shredded coconut, shredded carrots, or raisins).