Low-fat Carrot Cupcakes with Low-fat Cream Cheese Icing

I have been CRAVING cupcakes lately like nobody’s business. However, our new “diet” does not allow for such things EVER. So when we came across a recipe from Nadia G at BK for carrot cupcakes topped with cream cheese icing claiming to be low-fat, we had to give them a try.

[Disclaimer: Nadia is a very quirky tv food personality, beware of her shock and awe, but her recipes are always out of this world.]

I thought it would be appropriate to share with it being Easter week. Ya know, Easter bunny, bunnies eat carrots, some people serve carrot cake at their Easter dinner. All of those things. Yeah. Or just that this was some of the best cream cheese frosting  in the world.

The recipe called for a few things we  1) did not have on hand and 2) had never ever used before. So this was a new adventure in baking for the Brown household.

Off to the health food store we went in search of Cocoa Butter and Maple Flakes.

We did not end up finding the maple flakes at our local health food store, but they had maple sugar, which is a substitute for the flakes and it was on SALE! The cocoa butter was not and it was a bit pricey, but should last a while considering it was a massive, one-size fits all block.

These turned out to be delicious. The cocoa butter gives the icing a light flavor of white chocolate – that with the vanilla bean – YUM!

Here is the original recipe:

CUPCAKES:

• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used greek yogurt)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

FROSTING:

• 2 cups low-fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup raw sugar, pulverized
• 1/4 cup maple flakes
• 3 tablespoons cocoa butter
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, for garnish (I did not do this as I am not a fan of shredded coconut)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the cupcakes: Combine the carrots, pumpkin seeds, yogurt, applesauce, raisins, raw sugar, cocoa butter, eggs, egg white and vanilla seeds in a large bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together both flours, the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until moist (don’t overmix).

Spoon the batter into 18 muffin molds (I only had a 12 muffin pan – so I just made 12 large cupcakes – I had no issues with that) and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool in the molds for 10 to 15 minutes, then unmold the cupcakes and let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting: Mix the cream cheese, raw sugar, maple flakes (or maple sugar), cocoa butter and vanilla seeds in a bowl until smooth. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Garnish each cupcake with a small pinch of coconut.

Servings: 18 • Serving Size: 1 cupcake • Calories: 214 • Fat: 10 g • Protein: 6 g • Carb: 26 g • Fiber: 2 g • Sugar: 0 g