Vegan Carrot Cupcake

Ingredients

Cake:
• Dry Ingredients
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• Wet Ingredients
• 2 cups dairy free milk
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded carrots

Frosting:
• 8 oz vegan cream cheese *
• 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I used Earth Balance)
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F
2. Grease and/or line your baking sheet of choice (I used a muffin tin and made cupcakes - you could use 2 8"-9" inch rounds or a 9" x 13" pan)
3. In a medium bowl, add flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until combined
4. In a large bowl, whisk together dairy-free milk, applesauce, vinegar and vanilla extract
5. Stir carrots into wet ingredients
6. Slowly add in dry ingredients (in about thirds) to the wet ingredients
7. Stir until just combined
8. Pour batter into prepared baking sheet
9. Bake for 25-35 minutes. A toothpick should come out without any crumbs but may seem slightly moist
10. While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting by creaming the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy
11. Mix in the vanilla extract
12. Add the powdered sugar a bit at a time, and continue to mix until you have a frosting-like consistency (should be fairly stiff, but spreadable)
13. Wait until cake is completely cooled before frosting