My family says that I’m an expert at taking an unhealthy recipe and creating a healthy one that tastes the same. I’ve always thought that eating healthy doesn’t mean we have to eat bland foods. I stand by that statement.

My daughter’s birthday was approaching and I’ve been truly focused on following a specific plan to step up my healing – including balancing my hormones as well as my gut which has been a work in progress for me. One of the things that I have noticed is that when I eat certain foods, like wheat, I tend to not sleep well and feel bloated. In order to avoid this, I decided to experiment a bit with this recipe and created one of my daughter’s favorite cakes: A carrot cupcake! The best part? Not only is it wheat-free, it’s also ketogenic, it has NO artificial sweeteners and no sugar.

So what did I use in place of sugar? I used monk fruit! Monk fruit is a natural sweetener, it has no calories and doesn’t affect blood sugar levels (since it’s low in the glycemic index). It’s also safe for children and pregnant women AND has other health properties as well. Monk fruit owes its sweet flavor to something called mogrosides. A 2013 study concluded that mogrosides reduce oxidative stress (so it works as an antioxidant)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup monk fruit
• 3/4 cup grass-fed butter, softened – you can also use coconut oil or ghee
• 1 tbsp Maple flavored Monk fruit syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large Eggs
• 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Sea salt
• 1 1/2 cup  blanched almond flour
• 1 cup Tiger nut flour.
• 2 1/2 cup grated carrots. Make sure to measure them loosely after grating.
• 1 1/2 cup walnuts – use 1 cup for mix, save 1/2 cup for decorating (you can also use pecans)
• Cream cheese frosting (recipe below)  – you can also use coconut cream frosting

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl, mix the monk fruit sweetener along with the butter and vanilla until it has a creamy consistency. Then add the eggs one by one while continuing to mix. Set aside
• In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (tiger nut flour, almond flour, sea salt, cinnamon, baking powder.
• Once well combined, stir the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Then add the carrots and stir. Fold in the 1 cup of walnuts. Setting aside 1/2 cup for garnish.
• Pour the batter into greased cupcake molds (fill to half)
• Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the middle of the cupcake is completely cooked (I use a toothpick to check)

Pull out of the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool, about an hour. In the meantime, you can prepare the frosting:

Ingredients:
1 package cream cheese (from grass-fed cows)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup Monk Fruit
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp butter (softened, cut in cubes)

Mix all ingredients together with a mixer. Add more whipping cream if needed until you have it at the consistency you’d like. Refrigerate until you’re ready to decorate your cupcakes.

Garnish your cupcakes with the whipping cream, add walnuts to garnish (I chopped mine and left a few whole walnuts to garnish). Serve and enjoy!

These tasted SO good!