Carrot & Maple Mini Cakes with Marmalade Icing - low fat

Makes about 12 mini cakes

Preparation & cooking time: 40 minutes

These one person mini carrot cakes are delightfully tangy and light. If you want to be super good then you can omit the icing and eat them with a spread of marmalade for a zero fat dessert. But seriously, this marmalade icing is way too zesty and delicious to resist so I say BRING ON THE ICING! I used  maple syrup as a sweetener for the mini cakes because I simply love the taste, and it will give you less of a sugar rush than normal processed sugar, but really you could use any liquid sweetener.

Ingredients

For the mini cake batter

1 cup of vanilla or plain soy yogurt (you can use oil if you don't want the low fat version)

3/4 cup maple syrup

2 Egg replacements

2 1/4 cups of flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 medium sized carrots (about 300 grams)

1 cup non-dairy milk

1/2 cup of pecans, chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

For the marmalade icing

3/4 cup icing sugar

50g vegan margarine

3 tsp marmalade

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Mix together the yogurt, maple syrup, 'eggs' and vanilla essence. Add the sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the non-dairy milk and combine until smooth. Combine well and fold in the grated carrots and chopped pecans. 

Lightly grease cupcake cases or a muffin tin and pour in the mixture until they are 3/4 full. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place on rack and let cool completely before icing. 

For the icing - combine margarine, marmalade and icing sugar and beat with an electric wisk for at least 6 minutes, until light and creamy. Spread onto the mini cakes and decorate with grated carrot, marmalade, pecans or another decoration of your choice. 

To make these mini cakes extra decadent remove the center and fill them up with the marmalade icing.