Breakfast Carrot Cake Muffins
1 dozen
April and May are celebratory months for our family with 4 birthdays, Mother’s day, and Easter. And with celebrations come desserts and a little bit of extra eating. So in an effort to keep the sweets and everybody’s blood sugar from going all over the place, I came up with this grain-free and low sugar carrot cake recipe and reached into my recipe archives for my equally delicious lemon pound cake for a little variety. Both desserts were met with YUMS, especially from my two y/o grandson.
And BTW, I’ve found both of these pair nicely with my morning coffee as they don’t seem to raise my blood sugar much-yay! So carrot cake and lemon pound cake for breakfast! It doesn’t get better than that!
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar or substitute with erythritol
- 1/3 cup refined coconut oil or Kerrygold butter melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 8- oz. can crushed pineapple in juice drained, about 1 cup
- 1 1/2 cup grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 2 tablespoon tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese or dairy-free cream cheese softened
- 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp. refined coconut oil or Kerrygold butter softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup Powdered Erythritol-depends on your palate for sweetness
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners, preferably parchment paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Stir in coconut sugar, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Stir together until well combined. Add in drained crushed pineapple, carrots, and dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Whisk well until well combined and smooth, then fold in chopped pecans.
- Portion out batter into lined cupcake tin, filling each completely full. Recipe will make approximately 11-12 cupcakes. Bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then remove cupcakes from the tin and let fully cool on a wire rack.
- In the meantime, make your cream cheese frosting. Combine softened cream cheese, maple syrup, softened coconut oil, vanilla extract, and ground ginger in a medium bowl. Beat with a stand or handheld mixer until completely smooth. Set aside.
- When cupcakes are completely cool, frost with an offset spatula or butter knife. You can also pipe a swirl onto the top of the cupcake then smooth with a spatula or butter knife. Garnish with a sprinkle of finely chopped pecans, if desired.
To test cupcakes for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of a cupcake. The toothpick should come out clean with a few crumbs.
For the frosting, make sure the coconut oil/butter is quite soft. Otherwise, you’ll have a lumpy frosting full of little beads. Using melted to make the frosting is OK, so long as you give the frosting plenty of time to solidify before frosting.
I love getting all of my dry ingredients from one convenient place-delivered right to my door. Thrive Market.