Paleo Carrot Cup Cakes

Looking at all the Easter treats longingly and thinking you really want them? Here's a paleo carrot cup cake with a coconut frosting!

I saw these cup cakes (with the Lindt bunnies) in the newspaper and the looked amazing and I really wanted one - actually I wanted all three! 

So I looked at the recipe....170g of butter, 200g of brown sugar and flour - not forgetting the 250g of chocolate that also goes in. All ingredients that I really really really try to avoid in my kitchen!  What was I to do?  I loved the look of these little cups of sin and I couldn't get them out of my head!  

What to do?  I looked up a bunch of different recipes for carrot cakes, paleo and non paleo, looked at what I had available in the kitchen and this is what I've created - yep, it was a Good Friday!  

What you need: 

Batter

• 1 cup dates
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 4 eggs
• 2 large carrots grated
• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing/Frosting

• 1/4 cup cashews
• 2 Tbs coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 3 tsp maple syrup
• Shredded coconut

How you make them:

• Preheat the oven to 180deg Celsius.  
• In a food processor, blitz the dates and then add in the coconut cream and mix until both are combined and the dates have started to break down. Set this aside.  
• In either a bowl or a mixer, beat the eggs until they are a pale yellow colour and then add the dates and coconut, the grated carrot and the vanilla extract.  Mix this until it is well combined and then add in all the dry ingredients - the almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
• Mix until combined and line a muffin tray with cup cake papers.  
• Spoon the mix into 12 cup cake papers and bake in the oven for 20 minutes in the oven at 180d C.  If they are still a little wobbly in the middle let them cook for another 5 minutes.  
• In a food processor or a mortar and pestle grind/finely chop the cashews and coconut flakes.  Add this to a bowl and combine with a  with the coconut cream and milk.  Put this in the fridge to thicken.  
• When the cup cakes have cooled, ice them and top with shredded coconut and a little Easter Egg (why not!).
• You will need to keep these in the fridge - if they last that long!