Lover of Carrot Cake? Then you have to whip up my Carrot Cake Cupcakes, super easy, minimal time and absolutely delicious!
I love cupcakes, I think I have mentioned that before! I love that I get myself my own little hand held cake that I can control how many I eat and not a huge slice of cake.
Although, I really do like myself a huge slice of cake, but cupcakes are just a fun dessert and you can do so many things with them!
We make them a lot at home because everyone loves them and they never go to waste, so that is why I am sharing with you my favorite Carrot Cake Cupcakes.
This cupcake recipe only uses carrots, we do not include any raisins, nuts or pineapple in here.
I know some are not huge fans of the extra add-ins so we leave them out. But they are an option to add in of you’d like.
The one thing that we do add to this recipe that you would never be able to tell is applesauce. We find it a great sweetener and binder so we use it a lot in baking, it makes it so moist.
If you are looking for a truly tasty cupcake that has all the flavor, you cannot go wrong with my Carrot Cake Cupcake Recipe.
Some of my other favorite cupcake recipes we have on our site include: Funfetti Cupcakes, Salted Caramel Cupcakes and Banana Cupcakes.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- With pantry staple baking ingredients these are a breeze to whip up.
- You can easily double this recipe to serve more.
- You can adapt this to add in nuts, raisins and pineapple.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE BELOW):
All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Baking powder
Salt
Cinnamon, ground
Nutmeg, ground
Ginger, ground
Cloves, ground
Light brown sugar
Granulated sugar
Eggs
Applesauce (unsweetened if preferred)
Maple or vanilla extract
Vegetable oil
Shredded carrots
Unsalted butter
Cream cheese
Powdered sugar
Sweetened shredded coconut
HOW TO MAKE CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a 12-serving cupcake tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg applesauce and vanilla extract until combined.
- Slowly pour in vegetable oil and mix until fully incorporated into the batter.
- Add your dry ingredients and shredded carrots to the wet mixture. Stir until fully incorporated. Make sure not overmix!
- Spoon batter into the prepared liners (filling about 3/4 the way full).
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make your frosting. Using a hand mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese on medium-high until smooth.
- Then add in the vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon and stir in until combined.
- Lastly gently pour your powdered sugar into the bowl and beat well until blended.
- 10. Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your favorite tip and frost your cupcakes.
- After frosting, sprinkle sweetened coconut on top and serve.
CAN I ADD ANY ADDITIONS TO THESE CUPCAKES?
Yes, while we just go the traditional route and leave some of the other known carrot cake ingredients out of these, you can add them back in.
You can add roughly 1/4 cup each of raisins, chopped nuts and drained crushed pineapple.
Or you can add a little more of one or the other of each!
WHAT DOES THE APPLESAUCE ADD TO THIS RECIPE?
The applesauce used in this recipe helps make these cupcakes moist, and we love a moist cupcake.
This is how we have always made these specific cupcakes so I don’t suggest substituting it, but you can choose to use sweetened or unsweetened.
DO I HAVE TO USE COCONUT ON THE TOP?
No, this is just a personal choice that we like to add. You can leave these plain on the top or even top with some chopped nuts.
The sweetened shredded coconut just gives us another element of flavor and makes these Carrot Cake Cupcakes stick out from the norm.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GRATE THE CARROTS?
There are two methods that we use when it comes to grating carrots, a box grater and a food processor.
Depending on what you have either will work. You will want to finely grate these so make sure you are using the smallest grate.
The food processor goes much faster, but if you just have a box grater, it still is quick and easy.
HOW TO STORE:
These can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator where they will keep for up to 3-4 days.
You can also freeze these cupcakes, I prefer to freeze the cupcakes unfrosted. Place in a freezer container and they will keep for up to 3 months.
To defrost, remove to the refrigerator or countertop until thawed. It is best to leave the cupcakes out (if storing in the refrigerator with frosting) for roughly an hour to warm back up a little.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- This recipe can easily be doubled.
- Cream cheese frosting is our favorite, but regular buttercream can be used as well.
- These can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- If you want to add raisins, nuts and pineapple you can, see above on how to do that.
- Topping with coconut is optional, we also like to top with chopped nuts.
- Make sure you use the applesauce, this helps keep these cupcakes moist.
- To grate your carrots you can use a box grater or a food processor.
- Switch up the spices in this to your liking.
- You can use either vanilla or maple extract, it is your choice. We have made it with both and love both in them.
Love all things carrot cake? Then you will not go wrong when you make these Carrot Cake Cupcakes, moist, flavorful and fun.
If you like this recipe you might also like:
- Carrot Cake (layered)
- The Best Carrot Cake (9×13-inch pan)
- Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Cookies
- Carrot Cake Cookie Cups
If you’ve tried these CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup applesauce unsweetened if preferred
- ½ Tablespoon maple or vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups shredded carrots about 2-3 medium sized carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temp
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temp
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon maple or vanilla extract
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a 12-serving cupcake tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg applesauce and vanilla extract until combined.
- Slowly pour in vegetable oil and mix until fully incorporated into the batter.
- Add your dry ingredients and shredded carrots to the wet mixture. Stir until fully incorporated. Make sure not overmix!
- Spoon batter into the prepared liners (filling about 3/4 the way full).
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make your frosting. Using a hand mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese on medium-high until smooth.
- Then add in the vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon and stir in until combined.
- Lastly gently pour your powdered sugar into the bowl and beat well until blended.
- 10. Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your favorite tip and frost your cupcakes.
- After frosting, sprinkle sweetened coconut on top and serve.
Notes
- This recipe can easily be doubled.
- Cream cheese frosting is our favorite, but regular buttercream can be used as well.
- These can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- If you want to add raisins, nuts and pineapple you can, see above on how to do that.
- Topping with coconut is optional, we also like to top with chopped nuts.
- Make sure you use the applesauce, this helps keep these cupcakes moist.
- To grate your carrots you can use a box grater or a food processor.
- Switch up the spices in this to your liking.
- You can use either vanilla or maple extract, it is your choice. We have made it with both and love both in them.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH, 2021
B Knesek
I was looking for a fluffy carrot cake cupcake and thank goodness I found your recipe! I doubled the recipe and put a larger muffin cup in a standard pan making it a larger prettier size. It didn’t make the 24 since I did a larger size I got about 20 instead. Somehow I forgot to but the pineapple in although I had it out on the counter. It still came out wonderful. I sent a few to friends and put about a dozen in the freezer. I have never frozen any kind of cakes but I was busy and wanted to make sure I had some to give to someone about 2 weeks later. Took what I wanted out, let it thaw, tasted one and sure enough they tasted fresh out of the oven! the cinnamon in the frosting gave it a nice touch. Now I’m going to see if you have a recipe for Carrot cake that is just as light and fluffy to try! ]
Thank you
Love
Ranchmama