Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I am finally getting the hang of this!!! I wanted carrot cake! I LOVE CARROT CAKE! But I wasn't crazy about some of the ingredients I found in the GF recipes online... mainly xanthan gum that I am staying away from on the principle that it's expensive and I can't pronounce it... and coconut??? Uhm.. ew? I also don;t like raisins in my carrot cake and George doesn't like nuts in his breads/brownies/cakes so this is also without those but walnuts are traditionally added (3/4-1c).

Hopefully you remember (and have tried!) the last post about gluten-free waffles that I raved over. I made them again and they came out just as yummy! I really liked the texture so I based the flours for this recipe on that one.



Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Sour Cream Frosting

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1/4 c finely ground flax seeds
• 1/4 c grapeseed oil (or any light oil)
• 3/4 c. rice flour (I used brown.)
• 1/4 sorghum flour
• 1/4 c. potato starch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or 3/4 cinnamon & 1/4 nutmeg)
• 3/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots

Frosting Ingredients:

• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 stick salted butter, softened to room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4-2c powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Frosting first: Beat sour cream, butter, & vanilla until well combined then mix in powdered sugar until just shy of a spreadable consistency then put it in the fridge while cupcakes bake & cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a small cup whisk together flax seeds and oil. SET ASIDE for 5 minutes.
4. In a dry bowl, combine rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
5. In another bowl, beat together: brown sugar, eggs, and flax/oil mixture until well combined.
6. Add applesauce, vanilla, and carrots to sugar mixture. Stir until combined.
7. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until thoroughly combined.
8. Divide evenly into cupcake tins sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lined with liners.
9. Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool in tins for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
10. Remove frosting from refrigerator and stir. Frost as you prefer.

This makes 9 large or 12 regular cupcakes. I will admit that I only had one large carrot because my kids inhaled the bag so mine aren't as carroty (is that a word?) as I'd have liked since I only had about 1/2 cup of shredded carrot.

Of course I wasn't complaining!

  

Three YUMMY ways to enjoy these:

  Fresh out the oven..... split and double the frosting... or topped with sprinkles (but ONLY if you're a princess!)