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.
Carol
Hi Sam,
Will the cupcakes turn out as good, if I use a hand grater to grate the carrots?
Sam
Hi Carol! As long as the pieces are small enough you should be fine. 🙂
Cassie S
These cupcakes turned out AMAZING!!! I actually used some of the frosting and added orange and green to make little carrots on top. I also added raisins in the batter. These are definitely a new favorite! Thanks for sharing!
I wanted to know how long they will stay good for in a sealed container in the fridge??
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Cassie! I love the creativity to make the little carrot decoration on top. The should be good for up to a week in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
Jane
Can I use butter in place of oil? If so, how much?
Sam
Hi Jane! They won’t be quite as moist but you can. You will want to use the same amount. 🙂
Jane
Disaster averted luckily! Please note if you use the converter on this page to make 24 cupcakes, it does not calculate correctly. It converts all the American quantities correctly but not the grams/mls so I ended up with double of some ingredients and single of others! Luckily when I was measuring the oil I spotted this and was able to go back and sort the problem or it would have been a lot of wasted ingredients.
Sam
Hi Jane, where are you seeing a converter? I specifically do not have one on my recipes because I find they are not accurate and do not convert the metric ingredients, as you said, so I don’t even have the option for people to convert to avoid this issue. Can you tell me where you are seeing this? I can’t replicate it on my end and can only think it must be some kind of glitch with my recipe plugin (which I definitely want to fix, I just need to be able to see it first).
Simone
I made this recipe and it was so good and I had to make another batch and added crushed pineapples and I increase a little more cinnamon and nutmeg. After this, I was hooked! I had to try your vanilla cupcake.
Sam
So happy to hear you enjoyed, Simone! Love the addition of pineapple, yum!! 🙂
Syd
Could I make cake instead of cupcakes out of this recipe? If I wanted to make a cake using a total of 3 9inch round pans would I double or triple the recipe?
Sam
You could, but I actually would recommend my carrot cake recipe instead, it just makes for a better cake. Increase that recipe by 50% for 3 layers. If you chose to do this recipe as a cake you would need to triple it.
laura
can I freeze them after frosting?
Sam
Hi Laura! That should work just fine. 🙂
Judy Echeandia
This is an outstanding recipe. I ground the carrots very fine and that worked well, especially with incorporating the carrot flavor even more rather than using a larger grate for the carrot. I also reduced the white sugar by 1/3 cup, which made it even better for my palate (not overly sweet, but just sweet enough). I also added 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans to the batter. This is now my FAVORITE carrot cake/cupcake recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Judy! 🙂
Jessica
So excited to try these later! Can you freeze them before the frosting stage?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Jessica! Yes, the cupcakes can be frozen, then once they have thawed the icing can then be applied. Enjoy! 🙂
Judy Echeandia
No problem with freezing. I wrapped them in plastic wrap individually and placed them in a larger freezer bag, so I could choose how many to thaw. They thaw in the microwave on defrost for 15 seconds or you can just let them sit out on the counter for 15 mins. and they will thaw at room temperature.
Raymore
Cupcakes were great. Made them 3 days in a row because the family kept eating them. Quick question, how long should I bake if I want to use the recipe as a “cake” instead of cupcakes
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your family loved them, Raymore! I have a carrot cake recipe that you can try next. 🙂
Chelsea
This is such a great recipe. They came out PERFECT!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Chelsea! 🙂
Amy
These look amazing! I can’t wait to make them this weekend. Quick question: could I use buttermilk or almond milk in place of the milk in the batter?
Sam
Hi Amy! Buttermilk should work fine here. 🙂
Kelsi Allen
I don’t have canola oil. Will vegetable oil work?
Sam
Yup! Enjoy 🙂
Tahne Thomas
Hi Sam!
I am going to double the batter to make 24 cupcakes – should I double the frosting too or will there be enough to frost 24 cupcakes?
Sam
Hi Tahne! If you want as much frosting on the cupcakes as the picture shows you will probably need to double the recipe, otherwise a single batch of the frosting will work fine. 🙂
Ayesha
Hi Sam!
Can I safely reduce any amount of the white sugar in the recipe without compromising the moist texture? If yes, then by how much? Thanks!
Sam
You can reduce the sugars but that will change the taste here.
Karen
These are amazing! So flavorful and moist. I will definitely be making these again. I did cut down the sugar in the frosting which made it a little gloopy, but it tasted fantastic and frosting firmed up in the fridge. This recipe is a keeper!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Karen! 🙂