• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • Youtube
Sugar Spun Run
  • All Recipes
  • Desserts
    • Cookies
    • Candy
    • Bars & Brownies
    • Cake
    • Pies
  • Breads
  • Savory
  • Breakfast
    • Muffins
    • Scones
  • Seasonal
    • Cozy Winter / Holiday Treats
    • Easter / Spring
    • Fall Recipes
    • Summer Recipes
  • Shop
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • About Me
  • All Recipes
  • Contact/Work with Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • Youtube
  • ×
    Home » Desserts » Cupcakes

    Carrot Cake Cupcakes

    February 27, 2018 Updated March 19, 2019 BySam 1,095 Comments

    This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy.
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Carrot Cake Cupcakes

    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.

    A Carrot Cake Cupcake Topped off with a cream cheese frosting swirl

    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!).

    Bite taken out of a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting

    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!

    Carrot Cake Cupcake Batter

    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.

    Half of a carrot cake cupcake, showing the moist vibrant orange center

    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 cupcake with white frosting on a plate

    Carrot Cake Cupcakes

    A recipe for moist and fluffy carrot cake cupcakes! 
    Recipe from SugarSpunRun.com
    4.97 from 565 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: cupcakes
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
    Servings: 12 cupcakes
    Calories: 219kcal
    Author: Sam Merritt

    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
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    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

    *Cream cheese frosting recipe will decorate 12 cupcakes if you use as much frosting as seen in the photos.  If you plan to just spread the frosting on the cupcakes, you can probably get away with cutting the frosting recipe in half.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1cupcake with frosting | Calories: 219kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 179mg | Potassium: 46mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 45IU | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

    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.

    Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

    Carrot Cake Cupcake on a plate, surrounded by flowers

     

    « The Best Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
    Copycat Thin Mints »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kris

      September 20, 2023 at 1:41 pm

      Hi! My sister and i really love this recipe. I was wondering if i can turn it into an 8” cake?

      Reply
      • Sam

        September 20, 2023 at 9:59 pm

        Hi Kris! I would recommend using my carrot cake recipe instead. 🙂

        Reply
    2. Rose

      September 09, 2023 at 12:52 pm

      5 stars
      I’ve made this recipe a few times now and I love it. But two of the times I made this I must’ve done something wrong: The cupcakes collapsed and looked like a volcano crater and was crispy on the top. What could I have done wrong? Is there something I did when I converted to european measurements? The batter did look very thick compared to the ones on the picture. Hope to hear from you!

      Reply
      • Sam

        September 11, 2023 at 11:24 am

        Hi Rose! All of the ingredients are listed in grams in parentheses so you shouldn’t have to do any conversions. It sounds like something was potentially mismeasured or miscalculated when converted. 🙁 I’m glad you have enjoyed it though! 🙂

        Reply
    3. Joanne B

      August 31, 2023 at 2:00 pm

      5 stars
      Absolutely the BEST recipe! I’ve made these several times and everyone raves about them. I get more than a dozen cupcakes. I fill about 1/2 way and they yield about 16-18 and bake one tray at a time.

      Reply
    4. Malou

      August 25, 2023 at 1:25 am

      Hi, any chance I could use xylitol instead of sugar? I can’t use sugar. Thanks

      Reply
      • Sam

        August 30, 2023 at 10:26 pm

        Hi Malou! Unfortunately, I am not familiar with using xylitol so I can’t say for sure how it would work. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes. 🙂

        Reply
        • Hailey

          September 13, 2023 at 3:09 pm

          5 stars
          Hi there…. Plan on making these soon. They sound great! Just was curious as to how long they can stay fresh for if unfrosted? Have a busy schedule and want to try and save some time for the day of. Thanks!

        • Sam

          September 13, 2023 at 3:59 pm

          Hi Hailey! The cupcakes without the frosting will keep just fine in an air tight container at room temperature for 4 days. 🙂

    5. Marilyn S Borbas

      August 22, 2023 at 1:12 pm

      Hello.
      I’ve read the recent reviews and want to make these as mini cupcakes.
      What would you suggest as baking time?
      Thanks!

      Reply
      • Sam

        August 24, 2023 at 10:11 pm

        Hi Marilyn! Unfortunately I haven’t baked them as mini cupcakes so I can’t say for sure. 🙁

        Reply
      • Cici

        September 13, 2023 at 5:41 am

        5 stars
        I did 13 minutes for mini cupcakes.

        Reply
      • Rose

        September 16, 2023 at 1:23 pm

        3 stars
        I tried these out, but they were much sweeter than expected. The cinnamon is also a little overpowering, but im wondering if maybe my cupcake pan size had anything to do with it?
        They’re very moist and otherwise turned out well, but I’ll probably lessen the sugar next time I make these

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    The author (Sam) in blue shirt holding donut Hi, I'm Sam! I'm dedicated to bringing you sweet, simple, and from-scratch dessert recipes. My life may or may not be controlled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate). Read more about me.

    Fall Favorites

    slice of homemade pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream on white plate

    Pumpkin Pie Recipe

    Frosted pumpkin cookies

    Lofthouse-Style Pumpkin Cookies

    Stacked blocks of pumpkin spice fudge

    Pumpkin Fudge

    apple turnover that's been broken in half to show the spiced apple filling

    Apple Turnovers

    glazed apple fritters on a cooling rack with the center fritter missing one bite

    Apple Fritters Recipe (with Video!)

    Ghosts in the graveyard dessert shooters arranged on a cake stand

    Ghosts in the Graveyard Halloween Dessert Shooters

    Most Popular

    flaky biscuit on white cloth

    Easy Homemade Biscuits

    Pizza dough in glass bowl, after rising

    The Best Pizza Dough Recipe

    one bite missing from a slice of vanilla cake with chocolate frosting

    The Best Vanilla Cake Recipe

    Slice of cheesecake

    The Best Cheesecake Recipe

    Potato soup in bowl, with toppings

    The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup

    Stack of cookies made from this chocolate chip cookie recipe with melty chocolate chips and a bite missing from the top cookie

    The WORST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

    places sugar spun run has been featured (Women's Day, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Country Living, the huffington post, People, Delish, MSN, TLC, Parade, Better Homes & Gardens, Buzzfeed)
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • Youtube

    Privacy Policy|Accessibility Statement

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    ABOUT

    • About Me
    • Policies, Disclosure & Privacy
    • Terms of Use

    CONTACT

    • Contact
    • Work with Me!

    © 2020 Sugar Spun Run. All Rights Reserved

    • 1512