Soft, fluffy, and moist carrot cake cupcakes! Made completely from scratch with real grated carrots and the option to add nuts or raisins, these cupcakes are always a hit! Make sure to top them off with the absolute best cream cheese frosting.
Carrot Cake Cupcakes will forever be my favorite way to get my daily serving of vegetables. Give me a cupcake and a zucchini muffin for each hand and I’ve got the bottom of the food pyramid covered.
Alright, maybe carrot cake cupcakes aren’t the best way to get your daily vegetables, but it’s definitely the tastiest, especially when topped off with a very generous swirl of cream cheese frosting. They’re soft, moist, and cheerfully fluffy, these cupcakes taste like springtime and sunny weather (which I could really, really use right now!).
These carrot cake cupcakes are a modified version of my favorite carrot cake. The recipe is almost identical to the cake portion except for a bit more liquid in the batter — the original is perfect for cake but I found it to be too dense in the small space of a cupcake liner and added some milk for a bit of levity.
I use all oil in this recipe (no butter) for the moistest (sorry if you hate that word, if you have a better substitute I’m happy to hear it!) cupcakes, and thanks to the spices you’re not missing anything in terms of flavor, I promise! I found that butter just didn’t give these cupcakes the texture that they really needed.
I have a few tips on how to make your own carrot cake cupcakes turn out perfectly, so let’s get into that!
Tips for Making Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- I recommend using the grate setting on your food processor to prepare your carrots, and then briefly pulsing them in your food processor for fine shreds of carrot. I feel like just grating them leaves carrot pieces that are too big, but don’t overdo it when you pulse or you’ll have carrot juice and it will impart way too much carrot flavor into your cupcakes!
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a hand grater to grate your carrots.
- While I didn’t use them for my carrot cake cupcakes, you can add walnuts, pecans, or raisins (why, though!) to this recipe, if you’d like. This batter can hold about ½-1 cup of add-ins.
- This recipe can be doubled to make 24 cupcakes.
Enjoy! The full printable recipe is just below the video, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you enjoy watching these videos!!
How Do You Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (157g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed (100g)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cups canola oil (180ml)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 ½ cups grated carrots (170g)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional (60g)
- 1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 12-count muffin pans with paper liners.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using an electric mixer), whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Stir in canola oil. Add eggs, one at a time, pausing to scrape down sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat until well-combined.
- Stir in vanilla extract and milk.
- Add carrots and nuts (if using). and stir until combined.
- Evenly divide batter into cupcake liners, filling each ⅔-¾ of the way full. Transfer to oven and bake on 350F (175C) for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs.
- Allow to cool completely before decorating with cream cheese frosting*.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Marie
The texture is very nice and the taste is good, it’s just way too sweet for me. Being from Europe, I feel like I’m not used to overly sweet American dessert. I will definitely try to do it again but with less sugar (at least 1/3 less).
Kristin
These are the best cupcakes I’ve ever made. I almost halved the Confectioner’s sugar (I used 2.5 cups instead of 4) and the frosting was superb — lightly sweet and refreshing. My father, who dislikes things that are too sweet, absolutely loved them!
Dani
Has anyone tried to make these and freeze them (before icing)? I want to make a large batch for an upcoming event.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Dani! You can definitely freeze the cupcakes; just wrap them tightly in plastic and store them in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. Hope that helps! 😊
Brittany
Best ever had
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for trying our recipe, Brittany! We’re so happy you enjoyed it ❤
Amber
What timing/temp should I use if I wanted to make mini cupcakes?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Amber! The temperature would be the same, but we’re not sure about timing. Just keep a close eye on them!
Min
Outstanding results from a quick and easy recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much, Min! Enjoy!
Marie
Can I use this recipe to make a cake instead of cupcakes?
Sam
Hi Marie! I would recommend just using my carrot cake recipe. 🙂
Miss Glitteryone
Hello, I was wondering if the oven temperature is for a fan forced oven?
Sam
The temperatures listed are for a traditional oven. 🙂
MIss Glitteryone
Thank you so much Sam. I am going to make the cupcakes this evening.
Christina
Would this receipt make 24 mini cupcakes?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Christina! You will probably have closer to 40-50, depending on the size of your pan. 🙂
Crystal
Definitely my favorite recipe! I have successfully made these in a gluten free version using King Arthur 1:1 GF flour, they turn out perfect. I also sub olive oil for the canola to have a healthier oil option. The cream cheese icing is amazing, don’t skip this step and purchase icing. It’s super easy to make the cream cheese icing and the taste is so much better than the store bought icings. This recipe is a definite keeper in both my GF and conventional baking.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Crystal! Thank you for your feedback using gluten free flour. 🙂
Sade
Your recipes are absolutely amazing. I tried this carrot cupcake for the first time & got it right. It is so perfect & I love it. Thanks. Can’t wait to try your other recipes❤❤❤
Susan Palmer
I made these delicious cupcakes for Mother’s Day 2022 just as described using the optional chopped pecans and half and half instead of milk. It makes things easier to have all your ingredients together and ready before you begin and use a stand mixer for this job. They turned out perfect at 20 minutes of baking. I made the cream cheese icing that comes along with this recipe and used the entire batch because Carrot Cake isn’t carrot cake without a lot of cream cheese icing. For the icing, I used salted butter and omitted the salt as was suggested. They were very moist and melted in your mouth. I loved the idea of having cupcakes instead of a large cake for serving and they were also beautiful when adding the sprinkles for the kids. Everyone loved them and I will be making these again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for your review, Susan! We’re so happy the cupcakes were a success for you ❤
Kelly
Omg! Best carrot cake cupcakes EVER! I made around 50 in mini size for work and they were gone in an hour. Tomorrow I’m making the cake version for a bridal shower for one of my coworkers who can’t stop raving about them! I didn’t change a thing to either recipe except the cupcake size and just kept an eye on them while baking.
Thank you!
Sam
That is so great to hear, Kelly! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Lisa
Kelly i agree they are the best carrot muffins i have made. I also want to make this into a cake..any suggestions on what size this recipe would make? im thinking 9×9 . Is there anything you have to do different for a cake version??
Tia!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Lisa! You can give our carrot cake recipe a try; it makes two 8 or 9-inch layers. If you’re looking for only one layer, you can just cut the recipe in half 😊