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 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
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
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.
Ashley
Can’t wait to make these this weekend! Can you use vegetable oil instead?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should be fine. Enjoy, Ashley!
Robbie Jones
They came out beautifully. I left off the icing to use for breakfast muffins with coffee. They tasted great without the frosting.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them as muffins too, Robbie! Thanks for commenting 😊
Leah G
I want to give this a 5 star rating. The flavor was absolutely delicious. However, i am at altitude, and the cupcakes over rose. Do you happen to have high altitude recipe adjustments?
Sam
Hi Leah! I’m sorry to hear this happened. Unfortunately I am not familiar with high altitude baking so wouldn’t be able to advise on any alterations needed. 🙁
Maryam
Foolproof. Always a crowd pleaser and I can always turn it into a sheet cake!
Holly
I wanted to make bite sized muffins in my pampered chef deluxe mini muffin pan. This recipe should still work if I decrease the time, right?
Sam
Hi Holly! That should work just fine. 🙂
Anya
Did this work out ok Holly?
How long did you bake them for?
Krystal
These muffins are the best thing in the world. My husband makes me make them for his work meetings as everyone at his work loves them so much. Not to mention how much our family loves them. Highly recommend!!! I would give ten stars if I could.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for the sweet review, Krystal! We really appreciate it ❤️
Lila
This looks great! My dad loves raisins in his carrot cupcakes – advice about portion and if things need to be adjusted if I add the optional nuts and raisins?
Sam
Hi Lila! Just be sure not to overfill your liners. If you end up with any excess (which would be very minor) just discard it. 🙂
Najia
This is an amazing carrot cupcake recipe… I was wondering if I can make it gluten-free and substitute the flour with Cup 4 Cup — will it work? Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Najia! We haven’t tried it, but we think it should work just fine. Let us know how it goes for you! 😊
Najia
I just made the recipe exactly without the nuts and substituted the AP flour with the brand Cup 4 Cup. It’s AMAZING!
I filled the cupcake at 3/4 full with very little batter leftover, baked it for 22 minutes, left it in the pan for 6 minutes before letting it cool completely onto the rack.
TIPS:
1. Don’t be afraid to overmix your batter — because the flour doesn’t have gluten, it won’t become tough. Mixing the batter for a few minutes helps give it structure.
2. Let the batter sit for about 30 minutes before baking to help the gluten free flour absorb more moisture from the batter.
Megan
Delicious! I love the nutmeg in them and they were easy to make. 🙂
rozy
Hello! I’ve tried your carrot cake recipe and my family always loved it every single time! I was wondering if i could make 8 batches of this cupcake recipe since i haven’t tried it. I’ll be making 90 cupcakes so would it be okay to make 3-4 batches twice or do you have any suggestions on how i could go about it? 🙂
Sam
Hi Rozy! I think 2 batches of 4 should work here. 🙂
Jessica
Great recipe! I doubled it and they were amazing. I’m wondering about using the same recipe for a small cake. Thoughts?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Jessica! We’re so happy you love them. We’d recommend using our carrot cake recipe instead and altering for your cake pans. You could halve the recipe for two 6-inch layers; as written it will make 3-4 6-inch layers. Hope that helps!
mary
can I freeze them without frosting
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Laura
This is a great recipe. I’ve used it at least a 1/2 dozen times and it’s awesome every time!
kdv
making these for a baby shower this weekend, i used a box grater for the carrots on the small grate side. should i have squeezed the excess liquid out of the carrots before incorporating into batter? they are dripping wet.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
There’s no need to squeeze them–we want that moisture in the cupcakes! Hope that helps 😊
Susy
These were the best cupcakes ever!!!
Thank you so much!!! How long can I keep them in the fridge? Also, the Icing, can I store in the fridge for 4 days?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Susy! We’re so happy you liked them. They should last about a week in the refrigerator in an airtight container. And yes, that will work for the icing 🙂
Johnna
I just made these and WOW they are a 10/10! I LOVE carrot cake but I had never made it myself until now…I am so glad I came across your recipe. I followed it exactly as it was and it is perfect!
AD H
I doubled the recipe and it turned off it really nice. Keeper recipe for us! Thank you!