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.
SaraSML
I’m made 2 separate batches of this recipe, one with avocado oil and one with olive oil, because I ran out of avocado oil and both were SUPERB! Olive oil had a cool depth of flavor. I added no nuts and no raisins, just carrots and they were the best carrot cake cupcakes I’ve ever had. I piped them with the cream cheese frosting recipe that’s linked. Amazing. I will continue to use this recipe for many years.
Elizabeth
Great recipe
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Elizabeth! 😊
Jody
How do I store the frosted cupcakes? Can I make them a day ahead?
Thank you,
Jody
Sam
Hi Jody! I recommend storing in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. 🙂
Kristessa
Hello, should I lower the cooking temp on my convection oven for this recipe?
Sam
Hi Kristessa! You will need to adjust the temperature of the oven when using convection. 🙂
Monica
can I add pineapples? How much? Thanks
Sam
Hi Monica! I haven’t personally added pineapple so I can’t say for sure how much to add, but I know others have added pineapple with success.
Sass
I made these over Easter for the first time and couldn’t go past making more the following weekend! Given I haven’t baked for quite a while and wasn’t feeling particularly confident, I was stoked they turned out so well. I also substituted 1:1 with gluten free flour – all kind of flour lovers devoured them and didn’t notice the difference. BTW the frosting is to die for especially with lemon zest sprinkled on top. Yum!
Noelle
which gluten free flour did you use for similar results???
Wills
These were incredible when paired with the cream cheese frosting! Heaven!
Karen
I made these today and love them. They are very moist and very tasty. I will be trying MORE of your recipes. I’m hooked. 🙂
Eric
Hi Sam 👋
I would like to make 24 of these cupcakes would I just double this recipe?
Sam
Yes. You will want to double all of the ingredients. 🙂
Eric
👌 perfect thank you once again
Alanna
Hi, I want to make 2 batches of this but I only have 2 cups of carrots. Would 1 cup be enough carrots for each batch?
Sam
Hi Alanna! I wouldn’t recommend cutting the carrots that much. 🙁
Laura
Hey,
I made these a few times and they were amazing but I made them last night and the batter was runny. Then they came out funny shaped dome. I used vegetable oil and the correct measurements. Should I use canola oil instead?
Sam
That’s so odd, Laura! Typically a mis-measurement would cause this, but sometimes weird things just happen in baking. 🙁
Jessie
Can I use egg substitute for the 2 eggs, like flax seed eggs or egg replacer?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Worth a try! Let us know how it goes 😊
Katrina Yakemchuk
Can I use this to make a cake?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Katrina! We recommend our carrot cake instead 😊
Pamela
Can I use cane sugar instead of white sugar?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should work fine. Enjoy!
Chelsea Simpson
Looking forward to making these for Easter! Is it okay to substitute regular brown sugar for the light brown sugar?
Sam
Hi Chelsea! Dark brown sugar will just change the flavor a little bit but it will still work. 🙂