Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Honey and Cream Cheese Icing with a gluten-free option

Christina Austin

Carrot Cake with honey instead of white sugar with a gluten-free option.

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Servings 20 -24

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour*
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 organic brown sugar
1/2 cup local honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup canned crushed pineapple with juice
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 250 gram package of brick cream cheese room temperature (for the icing)
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups icing sugar for the icing
2 tbsp local honey for the icing

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking trays with cupcake liners or grease a 9"x13" baking dish (I use a Corningware one and I serve the cake straight from it)
Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside
Grate carrots using the fine grater attachment of a food processor or grate the carrots by hand using a box grater and set aside.
Whisk the oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the grated carrot and the canned crushed pineapple.
Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
Spoon batter into the cupcake pan and bake for approximately 15 minutes.** Use a toothpick to test a cupcake. If it comes out clean they are done.***
When the cupcakes are done, remove them from the pan to a rack to cool.
While they cool, beat the softened cream cheese in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until it is smooth.
Add the icing sugar, use only one cup of icing sugar if you prefer a slightly less sweet icing or use the full 1 1/2 cups. Beat very slowly at first so that you don't cover your kitchen and yourself in icing sugar.
When the icing sugar is combined with the cream cheese, add the honey and beat for 2 minutes or so.
When the cupcakes are fully cooled, spread the icing on top of the cupcakes and serve.

Notes

*If you are making the gluten free version and are using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour you use the same amount of flour but add 1/2 tsp Xantham Gum powder. If you are using a different brand of gluten free all purpose flour then follow the directions on the box for the conversion from conventional flour to their gluten free product. **A full size cake version will take approximately 40 minutes depending on your pan and oven. Set the timer for 35 minutes just to be on the safe side. ***When testing a gluten free version, I recommend using the tip of a knife to pierce the centre of the cake so that you can look into the cake. If it looks like it is still wet in the centre then add a few minutes to the bake time.