Pumpkin Carrot Birthday Cake

My little one's 3rd birthday was coming up and I wanted to do a practice run on his cake so I could feel confident on party day.  Pumpkin carrot muffins are his favorite and carrot cake is my favorite cake. I like this recipe because there is no "Egg Replacer" in it.  I have found that Egg Replacer adds a weird flavor.  With this recipe, I worried less about the refined sugar and oil and focused more on making a delicious birthday cake!

Our entire family LOVED these cupcakes so these will be a regular treat.  The only problem is that they are so good I can't stop myself from eating them!

Pumpkin Carrot Cake

Dry

3 cups white wheat flour (or preferred grain)

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp cloves

½ tsp Kosher salt

Wet ingredients + sugars

1 ½ cups sugar

½ brown sugar

1 15 oz. can pumpkin

1 ½ cups safflower or preferred oil

Water as needed for consistency

8 carrots

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 convection or 350.  Peel and grate the carrots (preferably with a  food processor!)  Sift flour with all dry ingredients.  Mix wet ingredients (sugars, pumpkin, and oil).  Add dry ingredients, water (to attain a good consistency for baking, up to ~¼ cup), carrots, and raisins until just blended.  Do not overmix (overmixing toughens batter).

Pour into cake pans or muffin tins and bake.  Makes approximately 24 muffins.  Bake time for muffins on convection 325 is approximately 28 minutes, but check periodically with toothpick to ensure they remain moist.  When toothpick comes out clean, they are done.

Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup room temp dairy free butter

½ cup room temp Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon extract

~4 cups confectioners sugar

Mix first 4 ingredients completely.  Add sugar about a cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.  We used some all natural food coloring made from turmeric (yellow) and berries (red) to give the frosty a nice peachy color.  Spread on cooled cake or cupcakes.  For a less crumb-y looking frost job, apply a thin layer of frosting on the cake and refrigerate.  Once cooled, frost cake with remaining frosting.  Refrigerate cake.