Monday, April 08, 2013

Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting—Secret Recipe Club

SRC--Guiltless Carrot Cupcake

Nope, feeling no guilt here.  But doesn’t that cupcake look decadent and delicious.  I know you’re dying to sink your teeth into it.  I was.

Guiltless Carrot Cupcake 2

These cupcakes are low in fat and have a brown sugar I made with natural cane sugar and molasses in them.  They are also made with whole wheat flour, unsweetened applesauce and a carrot puree (instead of grated carrots).  I decided to make these for some of the Easter desserts we had with family when I saw them on my assigned Secret Recipe Club blog this month.  I was assigned Miranda’s blog, Biting Life.  I had not heard of her blog before and enjoyed looking through it.  Besides lots of yummy recipes, she also blogs about reviews on books she’s read, and all the things going on in her life. 

She made these Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes and used Splenda for the sugar substitute.  I decided to use cane sugar, which I also used for the brown sugar in the recipe and made my own brown sugar with cane sugar and molasses.  I love doing that!

Homemade brown sugar with cane sugar and molasses 3-30-13

I just took half a cup of cane sugar and added 1/2 teaspoon of molasses to it and kept mashing it together with a fork until it was all combined and looked just like brown sugar!  You can also do that with regular granulated sugar.  If you’d like a dark brown sugar, add a little more molasses.  The recipe also only had egg whites and instead of breaking open three eggs, I used some powdered egg whites that I have a couple big cans of and need to use more often.  The egg powder is just mixed with warm water and whisked until it is the consistency of egg whites.  Love it!  I have never been able to tell a difference and have even used it for some meringue cookies!  It’s perfect for times when I don’t want to have egg yolks with no use and I hate just throwing them away.  Also in Miranda’s recipe, it calls for regular skim milk, but I decided to use lowfat buttermilk.  So the only fat in the actual cupcakes is from the little bit of lowfat buttermilk.  You really wouldn’t even know they are so low in fat.  Especially after you top them with a cream cheese frosting—that of course, I made a little lower in fat with the 1/3 less fat cream cheese, just a little butter, and skim milk. 

Yep, I am calling these pretty guiltless!

Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes--April SRC 3-03-13

I was happy with how these baked.  I wasn’t sure since they have so many different ingredients from regular cupcakes.  Then I was a little worried that they would also stick to the cupcake liners.  But after they were totally cool, they came off the papers great!

Guiltless Carrot Cupcpakes 3-03-13 (April SRC)

Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Miranda at Biting Life

1  1/4 cup (150 grams) whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

3 egg whites (I used powdered egg whites)

1/2 cup brown sugar (I used homemade with cane sugar and molasses)

1/4 cup cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 ounces carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 cup plain unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan with paper liners (or spray the pan with cooking spray if you aren’t using paper liners).

Boil carrots in saucepan with water covering them for about 10 minutes, until tender.  Remove from heat and drain.  Put the carrot in the bowl a food processor and pulse to mash the carrots into a puree.  Let sit while you prepare the rest of the cupcake mixture.

Combine in a bowl the whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt and spices.  Whisk to sift together.  Stir together in a separate bowl the egg whites, sugars, and vanilla. 

Add the applesauce and buttermilk to the carrot puree and pulse to combine.  Add the carrot mixture to the egg white mixture and whisk together until all combined.  Stir in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until well combined.   

With an ice cream scoop, fill each cup with batter.  Bake for 20-30 minutes (I forgot to write down how long they baked, probably around 25 minutes.)  Remove from oven and let cool in cupcake pan for a few minutes.  Then move each cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.  Pipe frosting on to cupcakes.  Makes 12.

Less Guilt Cream Cheese Frosting, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 tablespoon softened unsalted butter

2 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2-3 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons skim milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese.  Beat until smooth.  Add the vanilla, salt and powdered sugar.  Start the mixer and add a tablespoon of milk at a time until frosting is desired consistency.  You can start with just two cups of powdered sugar and add more if you’d like. 

Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes 3-31-13

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13 comments:

Emily said...

Wow, these look so good! I love carrot cake.

Cookin' Canuck said...

Okay, I am definitely trying these. Not only do I love carrot cake, but I love that these are lighter than the usual version.

Lisa said...

Guiltless Carrot cake cupcakes with a lightened up cream cheese frosting? Sign me up! Your frosting looks so creamy and beautiful and the cake so moist, one would never know it was a healthier version. Great choice..and you should write a cookbook! Baking such lush treats almost daily for all those boys is what most of us aspire to. I know I'd tear my frosting speckled hair out! lol

Camilla M. Mann said...

Carrot cake is my son's favorite! I will give this a try. Thanks for sharing with the SRC.

Cindy said...

Just had my yearly check-up. Looks like I need to "lighten up" a little myself. Thanks for a great looking recipe to jump start the process.

Shelby said...

These look YUMMY and they are Grumpy's favorite type (carrot!). I think I will mark this as my next treat that I make.

Lisa said...

Guiltless is the magic word. I'm all for it!

Elizabeth said...

guiltless- carrot cupcake? i'm in!!

Nancy @ gottagetbaked said...

Oooooh, Katrina - I love that this is a healthier version of carrot cake (one of my favourite types of cake). It looks so wonderfully moist inside. Thanks for sharing!

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Yum, I love carrot cake :) guiltless makes it even better. These look great!

Amy said...

I'm loving your healthier version of carrot cupcakes. They look just as decadent. :)

Gloria - The Ginger Snap Girl said...

Yum! And the guiltless factor makes them even more appealing. They look super moist. Thanks for sharing!

Miranda @ Biting Life said...

Oh my gosh, I can't believe that I somehow never saw this... thanks so much for your awesome Secret Recipe Post about my cupcakes! That is one of my favorite recipes that I've made. I need to make them again soon! Lovely post. Thanks so much for sharing my recipe :)