Vegan Apricot and Carrot Cupcakes

Every year me and Ash make each other birthday cakes, this year he asked for carrot cake - his favorite. I've already done a few vegan carrot cakes before and was bored of the old recipe I was using, so I decided to play around with ingredients and this is the result. The dried apricots add a great flavor to the cakes. I like to soak and simmer them in orange juice so when you bite into them you get a tangy, juicy taste of orange.

This recipe is based on this wonderful recipe from The Ethical Chef.

Ingredients:

• 225g Grated carrots
• 170g Dried apricots, cut into little pieces
• 280g Self raising flour
• 150g Cane sugar
• 80g Desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp Ground ginger
• 1 tsp Ground nutmeg
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• 200g Vegan margarine
• 200ml Orange juice
• Pinch of salt
• A few walnuts to decorate (optional)

Frosting:
I used this recipe for the frosting.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (325F).
2. Simmer the orange juice and chopped dried apricots in a pan for 5-10 mins (until the apricots begin to soften). Allow to cool.
3. Mix the margarine and sugar together in a bowl. Add the grated carrots.
4. Add the cooled juice/apricot mixture, sift the flour, salt and spices in and mix.
5. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cakes and bake for 12-18 mins.
6. Allow to cool before frosting & decorating.