Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks

Posted in Recipes on 12.04.2023

Carrot Cake Muffins

prep: 20 mins / cook: 25 mins / inactive: 30 mins / total: 1 hour 15 mins / quantity: 12 muffins Print recipe?

Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks
Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks

Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form!

Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios these are perfect to enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat!

If you’ve ever wondered why you put vegetables in sweet baked goods, well, there are a couple of reasons.  One, it’s a good way to get extra veg into the veggie averse without them really noticing.  Or caring – I promise you can’t taste the carrot.  Veggies also add another level of sweetness and moisture to a cake batter.

According to the World Carrot Museum of Skipton, England, carrot cakes have been around for centuries.  And carrots aren’t in carrot cake because people want to eat a cake that tastes like carrot.  Carrots have a natural sweetness and during the middle ages sugar and other sweeteners were difficult or expensive to come by in Britain.  So carrots have long been used as sugar substitutes.

Carrot cake muffins are just carrot cake in a more transportable form!  You can also pop any spares in the freezer for whatever carrot cake muffin emergency might arise 😉

Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks

Let’s talk vegan muffin ingredients:

Like any good recipe it ALL starts with the right ingredients.

Carrots – any type of carrot can be used.  I don’t even peel them if they’re young enough, just a good scrub is all that’s needed.  The ultimate would be to use your own home grown carrots!  Grate them on a fine grater, like the one you’d use for grating parmesan.  This just means there’s finer pieces of carrot – and thus less likely to be noticed by picky eaters.

Carrot Cake Muffins - these vegan muffins are gently spiced, divinely sweet and packed with flavour and goodness - carrots, flax seeds, coconut sugar and whole meal flour | thecookandhim.com

Spices – cinnamon is the most commonly used spice in carrot cake type baking.  I’ve also added nutmeg but ginger, cardamom and even turmeric can be used.

Sultanas – I love finding a juicy sultana in a bite of deliciously soft muffin.  They’re like fruity jewels.  Full of iron and antioxidants too.

Apple cider vinegarvinegar might seem a strange addition but when combined with the baking soda it causes a chemical reaction and helps leavening – replacing eggs as raising agents in vegan baking.

Pistachios – while walnuts are the traditional nut when it comes to carrot cake, I had spare pistachios and no walnuts.  So pistachios it is.  Feel free to use walnuts, pecans or even nothing to top the frosting if nuts aren’t your thing or you’re intolerant.

Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks

How to make vegan carrot muffins:

Start with the wet ingredients – whisk together the milk, oil and vinegar and set aside.  The vinegar also reacts with the milk to make something like buttermilk, giving the finished vegan muffins a richer flavour.

In a large bowl add the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and spices give a quick whisk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well with a spatula, stirring up from the bottom of the bowl to make sure there are no ‘pockets’ of flour.  Then stir in the grated carrot and walnuts, making sure they’re well incorporated.

Scoop or spoon into your muffin cases, filling each one roughly 3/4 full.

Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks

Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven or until a cocktail stick inserted in the centre of one of the muffins comes out clean with no raw batter clinging to it.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before lifting onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once cooled mix together the icing sugar with the lemon extract and enough water to make a thickish, spreadable paste.  Add the water a little bit at a time until the right consistency.  If it’s too thin, just add a bit more icing sugar as it will run off and down the sides of the muffins rather than sitting nice and pretty on top!

Dollop a little of the icing on top of a muffin and spread across the top.

Before the icing dries, sprinkle over the roughly chopped nuts, then tear off the muffin case and chomp, chomp, chomp.

Delicious and super easy vegan carrot cake muffins with all the spice and flavour of carrot cake just in a more portable form! Topped with a lovely lemon icing and chopped pistachios. Enjoy with your morning coffee or as an afternoon treat. Recipe on thecookandhim.com | #carrotmuffins #carrotcakemuffins #muffinrecipe #veganmuffins #snack #vegansnacks

Looking for even more vegan lemon recipes?  Try these:

Lemon blueberry baked donuts

Lemon poppy seed cake

Blueberry twisty bread with lemon cream cheese frosting

Blueberry lemon rustic tarts

If you make this recipe or any of the recipes from The Cook & Him I’d LOVE to see! Just snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #thecookandhim and tagging @thecookandhim in the photo itself (as this guarantees we’ll see your picture!❤)

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram , Facebook or Twitter for even more recipe inspiration and chat, competitions, behind the scenes and so much more!

Carrot Cake Muffins

prep: 20 mins / cook: 25 mins / inactive: 30 mins / total: 1 hour 15 mins / quantity: 12 muffins

Ingredients

Muffins:
1 cup (235ml) non dairy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup (55ml) vegetable oil
1 + 1/2 cups (250g) self raising flour
1 cup (170g) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup (150g) grated carrot
1/2 cup (70g) sultanas

Lemon icing:
1/2 cup (55g) icing sugar
cold water
few drops lemon extract to taste
2-3 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Equipment:
12 hole muffin tin
Muffin cases

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 180 Fan / 200 C / 400 F / Gas 6 and line a 12 cup muffin tin with cases
  2. In a small bowl or jug whisk together the milk, vinegar and oil and set aside
  3. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, bicarb, cinnamon and nutmeg
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir together until well mixed, stirring up from the bottom of the bowl to make sure there are no flour 'pockets'
  5. Stir in the grated carrot and sultanas, mixing well
  6. Spoon into the muffin cases, filling each one roughly 3/4 full. The mix should make exactly 12 muffins
  7. Bake for 25 minutes until golden and springy to the touch and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of one of the muffins comes out clean with no raw batter clinging to it
  8. Leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack to cool completely
  9. Once cool make the frosting - mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick, spreadable paste. Add the water a little at a time. If you make it too thin, simply add a bit more icing sugar
  10. Add a few drops of lemon extract to taste
  11. Use a teaspoon to put a little of the icing on top of the muffin then use the back of the teaspoon to spread. Sprinkle over the chopped pistachios before the icing dries
  12. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Any extras can also be frozen
Carrot Cake Muffins

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Hello there!  I’m Sam, devoted dog mum to Nooch and Baxter and your go-to vegan foodie on a mission to make plant-based eating a delicious adventure!  Join me as I whip up mouthwatering recipes that celebrate FLAVOUR.  From cozy comfort foods to vibrant salads and decadent desserts, there’s something for everyone in my kitchen.

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