Paleo Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

It's hard to believe that this is like, our seventh valentine's day together or something, and that we'll be celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary this summer.  I still remember our wedding so vividly.  One thing I do remember particularly well was our super yummy but definitely NOT GFG acceptable carrot cake wedding cake.  So what better treat to make on Vday than some yummy paleo carrot cake cupcakes?!

As far as gluten/grain/sugar free baking goes, I am totally blown away by how these turned out.  Scratch that, as far as baking goes in general, I'm totally thrilled by these.  I don't think anyone would know that these are gluten, grain, and sugar free.  They turned out awesome and don't have that really dense, puck-like consistency that so many paleo treats do.


Paleo Carrot Cake Cupcakes
1 cup almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3 room temp eggs
1/4 cup of your preferred liquid sweetener*
1 tbsp filtered water or nutmilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated carrot (4 medium carrots should do it)
2 tbsp oil, like melted coconut, or walnut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat your oven to 325 and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.  In a large mixing bowl combine your flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Stir well with a fork and make sure to get all the clumps out!  Or whisk it, even better.  In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, vanilla, liquid sweetener, and oil together.  Then add in your raisins, carrots, and walnuts.  Pour wet into dry and incorporate.  Depending on your coconut flour, you may need to add a tbsp of water or nutmilk to this mixture.  Using a tbsp scoop, scoop 2 tbsp of the batter into each cupcake liner.  I got exactly 12 cupcakes.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

*Liquid Sweetener Options:
1/4 cup unrefined honey
or 1/4 cup maple syrup
or 1/4 cup coconut nectar
For SF:
1/4 Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup (which is what I used)
or 1/4 cup unsweetened nutmilk with 3 or 4 packets of stevia or equivalent amount of erythritol or stevia in the raw
or about 40-45 drops vanilla creme liquid stevia mixed with 1/4 cup nutmilk

Now IMO, no carrot cake is complete without cream cheese frosting.  Cream cheese is certainly NOT a paleo food but there are many many good paleo cream cheese frosting approximations out there.  The easiest and best option for a yummy frosting would be to simply open a can of full-fat coconut milk, leave it in the fridge overnight, and the whip it with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sweetener.  If that doesn't do the trick, there are all kinds of cashew cream cheese frosting recipes to choose from.  For me personally, I wanted the real thing.

Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Icing
3 oz neufchatel or whatever you got
2 tbsp organic pastured unsalted butter
3 1/2 tsp erythritol (I use ZSweet brand)
splash of (nut)milk

Whisk everything together (I used an electric whisk) until it fluffs up a little, and spread over cooled cupcakes. 

These cupcakes are divine.  I shit you not.  They are really really good.  I think I underbaked mine a tad, I'd leave mine in for a few extra minutes next time, but they are still phenom.  They certainly made for a fun Vday treat, and while not chocolate, they definitely get the job done.  Happy baking and happy eating- XoXoGFG