Clementine Carrot Cupcakes

When my husband was deployed and I spent an entire 15 months alone with my first baby, I adopted many new hobbies to help pass the time.  Baking cupcakes was one of those hobbies.  Over time, I grew a reputation for baking cupcakes.  So naturally when I first started this "whole foods" endeavor, one of the first thing some people asked was, "Does this mean no more cupcakes?!"

Well, today I baked cupcakes with whole ingredients and sweetened purely with sucanat.  I've often used sucanat in place of sugar for baking sweets, that's nothing new.  But this time I also used sucanat to make my own powdered sugar to make the frosting.

Clementine Carrot Cupcakes

• 3 cups flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sucanat
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tablespoons clementine juice
• zest of 2 clementines
• 2 cups carrots, finely grated

I started by combining the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large measuring cup.   In a mixing bowl, I beat the eggs and sucanat until thick.

Add oil & applesauce and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes.

Add vanilla, juice, zest, and mix well.

my homemade vanilla extract

Fold in the shredded carrots.

Add dry ingredients until just combined.  Line muffin tins & fill each cup 90% with batter.

Bake 16-18 minutes at 350 degrees.

Clementine Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1.5 sticks of butter, room temp.
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp ginger
• 16 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
• 1 tablespoon clementine zest
• pinch of salt

Making powdered sugar out of sucanat:

Take 1 1/2 cups of sucanat and add 1 tablespoon of arrowroot powder OR cornstarch.  Combine them in a blender and blend on high continuously until the mixture is of uniform powdered consistency.  Keep the lid on the blender until the powder settles.

*I used a food processor because my blender broke, *sob*

home made powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Add cream cheese and beat again until light and fluffy.  Add remaining ingredients and mix approximately 3 minutes.

If I had even the slightest ability to make a cupcake look cute, I would, but this is about the extent of my frosting skills. :)  The frosting turned out great -- perfect consistency!  My only complaint is the taste.  Sucanat is a great substitute for brown sugar, particularly in recipes that call for molasses flavoring.  I find that it definitely carries it's own distinct flavor, which I'm not overly fond of.  Inside cake and brownies, the flavor is masked, but in drinks and frosting, I can taste it.  But the unique flavor sure didn't stop my son for gobbling down three of these cupcakes while my back was turned!


The good news is that you can make powdered sugar with any granulated sugar.  Sucanat, turbinado, and coconut sugar would be the healthiest options.  Regular white sugar or cane juice crystals are a less healthy option, but will work, too.