Carrot Cake Cupcakes
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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 1/2-1 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
Equipment
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
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
These are delicious! I need to make a large carrot cake for 50 people. I would love to use this recipe! Can I make a large batch of this?
Hi TG! We suggest you try our carrot cake ☺️
Thank you, Sam! I followed your recipe exactly as written (added the 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts), and the flavor and timing were perfect! I’m so glad I took the extra time to make your cream cheese frosting – it was super easy and delicious with these cupcakes!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Tiffany! Thanks for your review 🥰
These were perfect! Super moist, just perfectly soft, beautiful colouring, baked perfectly on time. Loved this recipe. My only question is, how do I make the carrot taste come out more, I loved the cinnamon combo, but I felt like it felt a little more cinnamonny and a little less carrotty. So how do I do that? Otherwise I loved it, and will be making it a million more times.
Hi Chandana! You could reduce the cinnamon a little bit, but the carrot flavor is supposed to be very mild here. 🙂
Ooooh!!!
I made these for the 4th of July. I’ll never regret!!!!
They were sooo delicious! Legit not joking. Perfectly moist, addicting! I paired these with my fav cream cheese frosting and the match was amazing! Deeeeeeefinitely a keeper here.
Thank you SO much, Sam!
We’re so happy you loved our recipe, Faith! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment 🥰
What is the best container to store them in and room temp or fridge?
Hi Aki! As long as you have an air tight container that’s all you need. With the cream cheese frosting added on top I recommend keeping them in the refrigerator. 🙂
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).
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!
Has anyone tried to make these and freeze them (before icing)? I want to make a large batch for an upcoming event.
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! 😊
Best ever had
Thanks so much for trying our recipe, Brittany! We’re so happy you enjoyed it ❤
What timing/temp should I use if I wanted to make mini cupcakes?
Hi Amber! The temperature would be the same, but we’re not sure about timing. Just keep a close eye on them!
You can bake mini cupcakes at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. The time really depends on your oven.
Outstanding results from a quick and easy recipe.
Thanks so much, Min! Enjoy!
Can I use this recipe to make a cake instead of cupcakes?
Hi Marie! I would recommend just using my carrot cake recipe. 🙂
Hello, I was wondering if the oven temperature is for a fan forced oven?
The temperatures listed are for a traditional oven. 🙂
Thank you so much Sam. I am going to make the cupcakes this evening.
Would this receipt make 24 mini cupcakes?
Hi Christina! You will probably have closer to 40-50, depending on the size of your pan. 🙂
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.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Crystal! Thank you for your feedback using gluten free flour. 🙂
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❤❤❤
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.
Thank you so much for your review, Susan! We’re so happy the cupcakes were a success for you ❤
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!
That is so great to hear, Kelly! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
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!!
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 😊