We’re not sure how raw, vegan recipes ever lost traction with the wellness crowd, but they did. Perhaps it is because raw recipes are so difficult to commercialize.
Raw, vegan foods must be made fresh and consumed quickly, a far cry from most of the shelf stable snacks we swipe up at Whole Foods these days. That said, if you’re looking for new plant-based recipes to make at home right now, this may be an area you want to re-explore!
We first tapped Emily von Eww of This Rawsome Vegan Life for these carrot cake cupcakes in 2014. We know our OG readers have tried it!
Raw carrot pulp from your juicer makes the perfect fit for this, but if you don’t want to juice a bunch of carrots, you can use the food processor instead. Since these tiny treats aren’t heated, baked or fried, all enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fats and antioxidants remain intact, making these the healthiest cupcakes ever!
These carrot cake cupcakes are just as decadent, moist and sweet as their customary counterpart. If you have a relentless sweet tooth but an inclination to keep things healthy, give these cupcakes a try. And if you fall in love with them, snatch up Emily’s classic cookbook Rawsome Vegan Baking for more. It includes this insane Tahini Cups with Coffee Cream recipe — a TCM fave! Grab your blender, your food processor, and get to un-baking!
Emily’s notes on the recipe: I bought a bag of carrots from the farmers market last week and juiced them, which left me with all this beautiful carrot pulp. I didn’t want to just compost it, so I thought — carrot cupcakes! This cupcake recipe is a simple combination of carrots, nuts, raisins and spices. I top them off with what I call “vegan gold,” aka whipped cashew cream, and swirled the cream with raw chocolate sauce, because…honestly, is there anything that doesn’t taste better with raw chocolate sauce?
Unbaked Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Whipped Cashew Cream
+ Chocolate Sauce
Makes 6 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
For the cashew cream:
2 cups cashews, raw
2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp lemon juice
pinch sea salt
water, as needed
For the chocolate sauce:
1/2 cup coconut nectar or date paste
3/4 cup cacao powder
1/3 cup coconut oil or cacao butter, melted
For the cupcakes:
2 cups carrot pulp (or ground up carrots)
1 cup dates
1 cup walnuts (or other nuts)
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
water, if needed
3/4 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS:
For the whipped cashew cream:
Blend everything together until it’s smooth and thick, adding water as needed. You want it to be the texture of a thick yogurt.
Set aside. You will only be using a portion of this cream, so store the rest in your freezer or refrigerator.
For the chocolate sauce:
Mix all the ingredients together and blend until smooth.
Set aside. You will only be using a portion of this raw chocolate, so store the rest in your freezer or refrigerator.
For the cupcakes:
Pulse the nuts into powder in a food processor. Add the dates, coconut oil and maple syrup and process until it all gets sticky. I added a little bit of water here, so I ended up with a slightly gooey mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it’s all evenly combined and still pretty sticky (you can do this last step in a bowl with your hands or spoon if you want). I like whole raisins in cupcakes, so I added those after it was all mixed. Also feel free to add more spices!
Press the “dough” into lined cupcake tins or papers, or really any shape you like! Set in the fridge for a minimum of a couple of hours.
Swirl 1/3 cup of the chocolate sauce into 1 1/2 cups of the whipped coconut cream. You will then use this to decorate your cupcakes. Alternatively, you can also put a dollop of the coconut cream on top of the cupcake, then drizzle the chocolate over it. Feel free to then top with chopped nuts or raw cacao nibs.
Serve!
