I have rarely met a person who doesn’t love carrot cake. It’s not the first thing that automatically pops into the mind when cake is mentioned, but it seems to be a firm favourite.

Cupcakes are great for work or social situations where it’s not always convenient or possible to slice a layered cake, not to mention the friendly politics of who gets the biggest slice!

My favourite recipe for this is the carrot reason muffins from Vegan With A Vengence. This is the perfect example of how fantastic vegan baking can be, especially when it’s not also trying to be gluten, refined sugar and fat free at the same time, as seems to be the (very sad) fashion at the moment.

This comes together in about three minutes once the prep is done. Two big carrots are normally about right, once I’ve topped and tailed them. I don’t bother peeling, just washing. Less faff, more vitamins.

I use a coarse microplane on these as it gets them fine but not too mushy. I soak my raisins in boiling water to plump them up. Weigh out flour raising agents, salt and spices – nutmeg and cinnamon – into big mixing bowl. Large mug/small bowl for the soy milk, oil and vanilla.

Quick note – baking is chemistry. This really does need the non-dairy milk. You could use dairy, but you’ll get a less consistent result. You could sub oat milk (I use oatly barista as it tastes good, is very stable at high temps and deals with acidity well. I wouldn’t use almond, and would be wary of nut/hemp).

Make a well, add the liquid and give a stir. In with the drained raisins and another stir.

Then carrots …

…and another stir. Don’t overwork it though.

Into a 12 hole muffin tins, lined, and into the oven for about 20 minutes. The carrot adds quite a bit of water content, so they need longer baking than standard type cupcakes.

Not quite as equally-sized as I’d like, but frosting covers a multitude of sins. In this case, cheaty frosting from Betty Crocker. It’s “accidentally vegan” and gives nicer results than most vegan cream cheese frosting recipes I’ve tried. Plus vegan cream cheese is hella expensive.

The secret is to beat it with a little vanilla extract and a tablespoon of icing sugar. It makes it fluffy and light, and much tastier than scooping straight from the tub.

Break out an icing bag and away we go!

All boxed up and ready for work tea break tomorrow. If that doesn’t perk up a Monday morning, I don’t know what will!