Healthy Carrot Cupcakes - yes, you heard it right!

I have been back for a couple of weeks and am a couple of pounds lighter!

Hanoi - was full of cooking adventures - like making Indian Aloo Paranthas without a chakla and belan (Indian Potato Flatbread without a rolling pin) and the likes - it didn't leave much time for posts. All I was doing was cooking and playing with the baby. So a little bit of running behind your tot and being too tired to eat can do wonders for you :)!

Well, so I have been on a slightly health food trail trying to keep that weight down now that I am back - oats and fruit in the morning, salad, soup and sandwich in the afternoon - you're getting the drift.

Now, I was craving cake and carrot cake seemed like the healthiest option at the mo. A little bit of googling around - toying between eggs and buttermilk, looking for something soft and moist enough not needing the cream cheese icing and I hit jackpot.

The recipe I have is for 6 cupcakes. I went through sooo many sites that I can't remember which one it is from... now all that I am waiting for is that the camera battery should charge soon so I can get pictures before the cakes vanish!

Recipe:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar packed
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
3/4 cup carrots - grated very finely
1 egg
a little bit of salt
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 180C. Just put all the dry ingredients in the bowl. Beat the oil and sugar together. Add the egg and beat. Add the essence and mix. Now add the flour bit by bit and mix. In the end I just added the grated carrots and mixed it with a spoon - till just mixed.

Spooned the mixture into my cupcake tin till the cupcake holders were 3/4 cooked and baked them for 18 minutes.

These babies turned out to be super soft and almost melted in the mouth. My son ate them warm... waiting for the hub to be home and tell me what he thinks. They could do with a little drizzle of icing sugar mixed with water if you want to do a glaze but if you want to keep it healthy stay away from all the glazes and cream cheeses in the world. Also, I don't think anyone could tell they were made with whole wheat flour but I am still testing...

Will be back with pics soon.