Adorable Mini Gluten Free Carrot Cakes that are perfectly decorated for Easter! These cute little desserts are super easy, gluten free and lower fat.
This is the story of the time that I learned that it isn’t a good idea to get up at 4am and try to do a whole weekend of blogging in ONE day, because you have family coming over and have no other time.
By the time you get to the final round of baking and photographing, you’re throwing plastic eggs and grass into the mix and thinking It’s the cutest thing to ever happen to planet Earth.
And then you go to edit the pictures. And you realize that you hate every single one of them. AND then you realize that you kinda sorta already ate all the gluten free cupcakes and don’t really want to make more.
So, you post them anyway.
And then you proceed to talk about how ugly they are, only to draw more attention to the fact that you hate them, because you’re smart like that.
Just like with the Cilantro Lime Tilapia, I don’t know why I tell you these things. But, I kinda just blurt out whatever goes on in my little head. In case you didn’t pick up on that.
These carrot cake baskets are a little twist on my Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes but I got a little crazy and put the cream cheese frosting inside AND on top. Whoa guys.
I may not love the pictures of these, but I do love how super simple they are and I pretttyy sure that you will too! You just have to make a cupcake, scoop out a little bit of the middle (and , yes, you should eat all the scooped out middles…just to make sure the cupcakes taste good right? Quality control is important) and then fill ‘er up with icing. I could lie to you and tell you that I picked the coconut from a tree and hunted down the Easter bunny to get his eggs. You know, just to impress you. But, I didn’t. Sorry to disappoint.
Side note: Do you guys have a fav Easter treat? I have a 3 way tie with these Cadbury Mini Eggs, The Cadbury Cream Egg or Milka Lil Scoops. You may not have heard of the last one, I don’t think the USA has them. Seriously, you should all book a flight to Canada just to get one. They’re 4 chocolate eggs that are filled with either chocolate or vanilla cream, and then you break off the top of the egg and eat the filling with a cute little spoon. They also are packed in adorable little purple egg crates. I die.
Anyway.
The hubs told me that he didn’t really like Mini Eggs. I know, who is he? How-ev-er every time he walks out of the kitchen he is eating the leftovers. I spy a fibber!
Usually I have some witty way to end a post. But, I’ve been studying all week (we’ll talk about that later) and my brain is fried-o-rama, soooo I’m just telling you that you’ll like these and you should make them.
And, I do promise that no Easter bunnies were harmed in the collection of the Mini Eggs.
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1/2 Cup Coconut flour sifted (45g) *
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 3 Large eggs
- 2 Tbsp Coconut oil melted
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 3/4 Cup Light brown sugar packed *
- 1 1/4 Cups Grated carrots about 4 small carrots
For the Icing:
- 4 Ounces Reduced-fat cream cheese softened
- 1/4 Cup butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Cup Powdered sugar sifted
- 1 Tbsp Unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 Tbsp water
- Green food coloring
- Cadbury Mini Eggs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with 6 muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl,stir together the sifted coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together the eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the coconut flour mixture, and then beat it to make sure that the lumps are completely gone.
- Stir in the grated carrots until all the carrots are mixed in and coated in the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins and let stand 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely before assembling.
- To make the green coconut:
- Mix the water and desired amount of green food coloring in a small baggie.
- Add in the coconut and swirl around until all the coconut is covered.
- Lay out on a paper towel to dry and set aside. ***
- To make the frosting:
- In a large bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy (about 5 mins.)
- Beat in the vanilla until well combined.
- Turn the mixer down to low and gradually beat in the powdered sugar.
- Turn the speed back up and beat for an additional 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Using a small spoon, scoop a little circle out of the center of each mini carrot cake.
- Spoon the icing into a parchment bag and fill the hole with frosting, swirling it just over the top of the cake as well.
- Sprinkle with colored coconut and Mini eggs.
Tips & Notes:
**Cream cheese icing recipe from [About.com ***You can also speed up the drying by placing the coconut on a small baking sheet into the oven at 450 degrees for 2-3 minutes.
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
Want more Easter Recipes?
Easter Chewy Chocolate Oat Square
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Mary says
Hi, I’m hoping to make these, just wondering how much Greek yoghurt is in the cake batter? Thanks.
Taylor Kiser says
Hi Mary! Sorry, that was totally a typing error on my part – there is no Greek yogurt! I hope that helps 🙂
Carmen says
Honestly I can’t say I loved these cakes, they looked amazing but the “carrot cake” flavour wasn’t there. I think the coconut flour and oil is too overpowering. They are also too moist (maybe I needed to bake them for longer but they were very golden brown and toothpick came out clean).
Taylor Kiser says
I’m sorry you didn’t love them Carmen! It does sound like they might have needed a little bit more cooking time!