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.
Teresa
A delightful cupcake! Followed your recipe, except used tubinado sugar instead of white and brown sugars. Baked until instant read thermometer reached 205 F. Topped with a confectioner sugar/orange juice glaze. Will make these again.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Teresa! 🙂
Libs
Great recipe, i just substitute banana instead of eggs because of my daughter allergies and it turned out really good. Thank you
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! Thank you for your egg substitution feedback. 🙂
Lauren Fitzpatrick
If making mini cupcakes, would I need to adjust baking time or temperature?
Sam
Hi Lauren! Unfortunately I haven’t tried making them mini so I am not sure how long them would need to bake. The temperature will be the same just be sure to keep an eye on them. I would love to know how they turn out. 🙂
Lauren Fitzpatrick
I baked them for 11 minutes at 350 and they came out PERFECTLY! It made about 48 mini cupcakes! I also used your Cream Cheese Frosting recipe and there was more than enough! Thanks so much for the amazing recipe! This is one to keep!
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much. 🙂
Katie
These came out so perfect!! Possibly the best thing that I’ve ever baked!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Katie! 🙂
Naufara
Hi…it turned out the best..I did some changes such as i added a mixture of corn oil and olive oil instead of canola oil(as I was short on it) and also normal sugar instead of brown sugar(I didn’t have it) and added 1.5 tsp of cocoa powder and a pinch of coffee powder as we dont prefer the aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon in sweets..and it turned out fine with great texture…thanks a lot for the recipe..looking forward to bake your carrot cake…
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Hannah
Do these need to be stored in the fridge or are they ok at room temperature?x
Sam
Hi Hannah! You can store it up to 2 days at room temperature due to the cream cheese frosting. They will last longer in the refrigerator in an air tight container. 🙂
Hannah
Thanks for getting back to me. I made these Tuesday and they were lovely. Doubled the quantity, the cakes were really moist and everyone enjoyed! Will be my go to for carrot cupcakes.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them! 🙂
Sarah
Hi! I made these once before and everyone loved them! I got a request for gluten free carrot cupcakes! Would this recipe work if I substituted the flour for gluten free flour? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Sarah! Unfortunately I haven’t tried to be able to say for sure how they would turn out. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Noreen P
The original recipe made 18 cupcakes by adding 1/2 c walnuts. Perfect.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Noreen! 🙂
Dianne B.
While googling for carrot cupcake recipe I found this recipe and tried it. It so yummy and fluffy! Hope I could post our finish product. 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Dianne! While there isn’t an easy way to post a picture here you can join my Facebook group if you’d like. I love to see everyone’s creations. 🙂
Srivastany
Hi! Do you know if this recipe would work as a normal cake too?
Sam
Hi! I actually recommend my carrot cake recipe instead 🙂
Very similar, but adjusted to be better in cake form.
Srivastany
OK Thx! Have a nice day1
Kaylene
I’m new to baking and made these for a Father’s Day picnic over the weekend. They were awesome and everybody thought so. Will be using this recipe again.
Thanks so much =)
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Kaylene! 🙂
Preety
Hi Sam! Does the brown sugar have to be light? Will it work if I have dark brown sugar?
Thanks 🙂
Sam
Dark brown sugar will work here. Dark brown sugar is just a little bit richer than light brown. 🙂
Nancy J
The cupcakes were delicious, however, I doubled the recipe and 1 1/2 cups of canola oil was way too much. Oil was pooled in the bottom of the cupcake pan. I would not use more than a cup if doubling.
Sam
I’m glad they were still tasty otherwise, Nancy!
Nancy J
Yes they were. And the icing was perfect!
Stephanie Gill
Hello
Can I add in crushed pineapples to the recipe?
Sam
Hi Stephanie! I haven’t personally tried it but others have commented that they have with success! Enjoy 🙂
Farah Yamani
Hiii I loved your recipe! The cupcakes were moist, soft and delicious! My family loved them. I only found one problem – the cupcakes were oily. The liner and base of the muffin tray was covered with a layer of oil.
Sam
Hmmm that is so weird, Farrah! I have never had this issue. I wonder if your muffin liners aren’t good muffin liners or if there’s some excess humidity where you are causing an issue or something like that?
Nawaal
I have made this 3 times in the past week and a half and doubled the recipe!! This is really a big hit with my family 😊 Thank you for this recipe
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂