Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes
These Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes are very quick and easy to make with a mix of buckwheat flour and almond flour - no xanthan gum needed!
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Calories: 619kcal
Ingredients
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 1 orange zested
- 160 ml light olive oil
- 3 eggs medium sized
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 140 g buckwheat flour
- 100 g almond flour ground almonds
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice*
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 180 g grated carrot 2-3 large carrots
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 250 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 300 g icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 180 g cream cheese straight from the fridge
Candied Carrots
- 125 ml water
- 100 g caster sugar + 2 tablespoons extra for coating
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted / gas mark 4 / 350°F and fill a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin liners.
- Whisk the sugar with the orange zest until fragrant.
- Add the olive oil, eggs and the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, spices, salt and black pepper.
- Fold the flour into the wet ingredients one third at a time.
- Stir in the grated carrots until completely combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake cases and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the cupcakes from the tin and allow to cool completely before decorating.
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- Cream the butter and icing sugar and mix for about 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy.
- Add the salt and vanilla and mix again to combine.
- Finally add the cream cheese and mix until just combined.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a piping tip with your buttercream and frost your cupcakes generously.
Candied Carrots
- Pour the water and sugar into a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn down to a simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add the carrot and leave to simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Strain the carrots and pat dry.
- Place on a baking parchment lined tray and bake at 180°C/160 /gas 4 for 12 minutes.
- Turn off the oven, remove the carrots and toss them about a bit on the baking tray.
- Return the carrots to the bottom shelf of the turned off oven, leaving the door open, for about 4-6 hours (overnight if you can), so the carrots can dry out.
- Finally toss the carrots in the extra caster sugar and use to sprinkle over your frosted cupcakes.
Video
Notes
- Eggs. The eggs used in this recipe are medium size, 60g with shell and 50g without shell. If you can't get hold of medium eggs I suggest you weigh the amount.
- Gluten-free flour. I don't recommend swapping the flours in this recipe for a gluten-free all purpose flour. Buckwheat flour and almond flour mixed together really do give the best results.
- Buckwheat flour. You can swap for sorghum flour, brown rice flour or oat flour.
- Almond flour. You can swap for chickpea flour or sunflower seed flour.
- Olive Oil. It’s important to use light olive oil, not extra virgin or regular olive oil as you want the flavour of the oil to be more or less neutral. You could also use refined coconut oil or groundnut oil.
- Grated Carrots. I recommend using the grating attachment on your food processor or a julienne peeler for perfectly shredded carrots. You can do it by hand but it will be more time consuming.
- Cream Cheese Buttercream. For the lightest buttercream the icing sugar and butter should be beaten together for at least 4-5 minutes on a medium-high setting.
- The recipe given for the Candied Carrot is enough to decorate 2 full cakes (or 48 cupcakes) so there will be plenty leftover. It actually stores very well though in a cool dark place for a few weeks.
Nutrition
Calories: 619kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 101mg | Sodium: 229mg | Potassium: 252mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 52g | Vitamin A: 3313IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 97mg | Iron: 1mg