Whole Wheat, Fat-Free Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes with "Cream Cheese" Frosting

I love what Lindsay S. Nixon is all about and her cookbooks should be staples in most vegan kitchens. Lindsay claims this recipe is one of two that really made her famous.

I tried it out for the first time last night. I have to admit, it was not what I expected. I would have to say that as cupcakes, these are slightly disappointing. However, if you remember that they are non-fat cupcakes with lots of healthy ingredients and no added guilt they start tasting a bit better. And thought of as low fat muffins they are actually excellent. Its really all about the expectation you have going into your first bite. Given that the frosting is basically cream cheese and the cupcake is like a healthy muffin, I decided they are perfectably acceptable for breakfast this week. And with cupcakes for breakfast, my week is looking better already! :)


Ingredients
•1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
•1 cup raw sugar
•1 tsp baking powder
•1 tsp baking soda
•1¼ tsp cinnamon
•¼ tsp salt
•1 whole carrot, shredded
•1½ cup unsweetened applesauce
•1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a muffin pan or spray paper liners to prevent sticking and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, soda, sugar, salt & cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, mix applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add dry mix to wet mix in 3-4 batches. Stir until just combined. Fill cups to the top bake 15-25 minutes or until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.


For cream cheese icing, use electric beaters to whip and combine 1 container Tofutti cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 cup confectioners sugar at a time until the consistency is thick and sweet enough.