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 (157 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar packed
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cups (180 ml) avocado, vegetable, or canola oil
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 ½ cups (170 g) grated carrots
- ½ cup (60 g) chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
- 1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting
Recommended Equipment
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.1 ¼ cups (157 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar packed, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- Stir in oil. Add eggs, one at a time, pausing to scrape down sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat until well-combined.¾ cups (180 ml) avocado, vegetable, or canola oil, 2 large eggs
- Stir in vanilla extract and milk.1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 Tablespoons milk
- Add carrots and nuts (if using). and stir until combined.1 ½ cups (170 g) grated carrots, ½ cup (60 g) chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
- 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 in the baking tin for 5 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating with cream cheese frosting*.1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.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.
Shannon
I made these yesterday and paired them with the the cream cheese frosting recipe. I added about 1/2 t ginger and the flavor was delicious! I also adjusted the oil to 1/2 cup then added 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce. Although the flavor was spot on and they were moist enough, they were very dense. Any ideas how to adjust them so they are not dense?
Sam
Hi Shannon! I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor, but it sounds like the applesauce substitution is the issue here. It typically makes your desserts more dense.
Tascha
These just came out of the oven and I couldn’t wait to try them because I totally forgot the white sugar! I tried one when it was still hot and it was delicious! didn’t even need the extra sugar and I’m kinda glad I forgot it.
I just searched for these after taking out a brick of cream cheese but not having anything else to make cheesecake, so cream cheese frosting it is LOL.
So yummy, thanks for these…oh, and I used Coconut Oil because I love it in baking.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tascha! I am definitely guilty of gobbling down a cupcake or two right out of the oven. 🤣
Tascha
The cream cheese icing was great as well!!
I used a little less than 3 cups of icing sugar
instead of 4, which was perfect. Such a great combo!
Christina Yip
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this incredible recipe. I made it twice in a row because they were such a huge hit. When (and if) I get my own bakery, these are going to constantly be on my menu. They are so moist that technically they don’t even need any frosting. Again, THANK YOU so much!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Christina! 🙂
Terri
Hi! Can I use this recipe for a small, single layer sheet cake?
Sam
Hi Terri! I have a carrot cake recipe that will work in a 9 x 13 pan. 🙂
Sophie Longwitz
I only have 3/4 cups of canola oil (I’m doubling the batch). Should I put vegetable oil for the other 3/4?
Sam
Yes vegetable oil will work just fine for the rest 🙂
Sha
Hi! I’m going to try this out but was wondering if I have to immediately bake the batter after mixing or if I can live it in the fridge till I bake it the next day?
Sam
Unfortunately I don’t recommend letting the batter sit that long. If you need to bake the cupcakes the day in advance they will still be nice and fresh the next day if they are stored in an air tight container at room temperature after they cool. 🙂
Magy Rodriguez
Hi how do you do the cream cheese frosting? Can you add color?
Sam
Hi Magy! You can click the words, “cream cheese frosting” in the ingredients list and you can add color to it. 🙂
Hazel
Followed the instructions directly and they came out fantastic! These were delicious and moist — didn’t last very long in my kitchen haha. Thank you for sharing this recipe 🙂
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Hazel! 🙂
Shelly
If I want to put crushed pineapple in here, would that work? How much should I add?
Sam
Hi Shelly! That should work, but the cupcakes will end up being a little more moist. I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure exactly how much to add. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Radka Bártová
I put 200 grams of brown sugar instead of 50:50 and they turned out to be super sweet 😵 like i dont even want to eat them🙊😰
Sam
O no! Yeah the brown sugar will make the cupcakes a lot more rich.
Lucy
Can I make mini cupcakes with this recipe? How long do I bake them?
Sam
Hi Lucy! You could bake them as mini cupcakes, but I am not sure what the time would be. I haven’t tried making them that way. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Susan L Plate
Perfect cupcakes! So moist and good balance of flavor and sweetness.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Susan! Thank you so much for commenting!
Denise
Hello, I want to add raisins and pecans. How much of each do I add?
Sam
Hi Denise! You will want to add about 1/2 cup total of any add-ins. 🙂
Annette
I replaced the canola oil for coconut oil. That’s a good cupcake!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Annette! 🙂
Marie
Can i skip the nutmeg here?
Sam
You can skip it, but it really helps with the signature carrot cake flavor here. 🙂