I had some fresh pumpkin left after Halloween and the girls wanted to make hubby a cake for his birthday (November 4th). Hubby likes carrot cake (though it’s not my favorite) so I thought a pumpkin carrot cake was the perfect birthday treat. I adapted a standard recipe to be dairy free for Doodle and I was pleasantly surprised by how dense and moist the cupcakes turned out despite the batter being much runnier than a typical carrot cake and it is soooo delicious, too, especially topped with my dairy free Maple Spice Frosting!
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned, not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking spice (or pumpkin pie spice or a blend of your favorite spices–cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, etc.)
- 1 cup grated carrot
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine brown sugar, oil and eggs. Mix until well-integrated and smooth, scrape sides of bowl (this mixture sticks much worse than when creaming sugar and butter).
Add pumpkin and syrup, scrape sides of bowl.
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking power, salt and spices.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, mixing on low just until combined.
Fold in grated carrot.
Grease cupcake tin or use paper/silicone liners and fill 3/4 full with batter.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of cupcake comes out clean.
Top with Dairy Free Maple Spiced Frosting
