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.
Shawn
Can i give this recipe a 10!!!! This is one of the best carrot cakes I have ever had. Second only to my aunt’s, and that’s saying something!
Everyone that ate one LOVED it. Eyes rolling back in their heads as they spoke of just how moist and delicious it was. Thank you for sharing!
Sam
I am so thrilled to hear this, Shawn! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know what a hit it was! 🙂
Oma Adiorho
Used this recipe on Saturday to make cupcake for my friend graduation along side some Banana muffins and it was a hit
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Oma! 🙂
Jody
Can I use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar? Can’t wait to make these and I only have dark brown sugar in my pantry. Thanks!
Sam
Yes that will be fine, enjoy! 🙂
Debbie
I made these for Easter and they were delicious! I’m making them again for my mother in law’s birthday this weekend.
Can you tell me what those sprinkles are you used to decorate?
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Debbie! They are “Chocomaker shimmer confetti” sprinkles. I found them at my local Walmart a while back. 🙂
Sandra
Hi there! If I wanted to make this in a mini loaf pan, do you think it would work out? Or should I follow your cake recipe instead?
Sam
Hi Sandra! I would probably use the cake recipe. It is a little more moist than the cupcakes. You will probably need more than one mini loaf pan. I don’t know how long they would need to bake. 🙂
Krysten Newsom
I have tried several of your recipes and they all turned out fantastic! Do you have one for peach cobbler?
Thanks,
Krysten
Sam
Hi Krysten! I am glad you are enjoying everything! Peach cobbler is coming up soon, the testing is almost completed so we are close. 🙂
Chris
I loved this recipe and it was a big hit with my mom (who was really who I made them for 😊.) I made one small change by substituting a half cup of applesauce for a half cup of the oil. Turned out moist and delicious and the few people who got to try them (i. e. pry them from Mom’s hands) also loved them. Thank you.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the cupcakes, Chris! 🙂
Sharon
These cupcackes are fantastic. I made them for Easter and was so pleased by how well they’ve turned out- and I am not a skilled baker. I grated my carrots by hand and used an electric hand beater. Also added 1/2 cup chopped pecans.
I do have half a batch of frosting left over- so I think I’ll make some more cupcakes!
Thanks for a well-written, successful recipe.
Sam
Thank you so much, Sharon! I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes! If you have extra frosting you definitely have to make more cupcakes! 😉
Laura
Hi there! I made your carrot cake and cream cheese frosting over the weekend and it was such a big hit my birthday boy wants carrot cake cupcakes to share with his friends! I’d like to make these and double the recipe for 24, do you think they would still be good if I only use the amount of sugar called for in a single batch while doubling the rest of the ingredients? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Laura! They won’t be as sweet if you don’t double the sugar, but they should still turn out. 🙂
Aunt Therese
My niece made these for dessert after Easter dinner yesterday. They looked so beautiful I assumed she had bought them. But they tasted sooooooo delicious, I thought they had to be homemade. She sent me the link. I can’t wait to make them as soon as I can. I already had what I thought was the best carrot cake recipe ever. But this is even better. WOW.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear that everyone enjoyed! Thank you for commenting, I appreciate it 🙂
Doreen
Great recipe. One of the many desserts I made for Easter and a definite keeper. Nice to have carrot cake recipe without pineapple etc. thanks for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed cupcakes, Doreen! 🙂
Dot
I made these today for Easter. I weighed all the ingredients and followed the recipe exactly. I grated the carrots by hand but I used the side of my grater with the smallest holes. These are among the best cupcakes I’ve ever made and I’m an experienced baker. They are so soft and moist and flavorful. I’ll be making these a lot. I made the cream cheese icing from this site too and it was also perfect. Thanks so much.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes so much, Dot! In my opinion, you can’t have carrot cake cupcakes without cream cheese, so I’m glad you tried that too. 🙂
Caroline
Fan friggin’tastic!! Only word to describe them is moist(and ew I can’t stand that word)!! SO delicious, perfection!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes so much, Caroline! 🙂
Michael
I made a batch of carrot cupcakes for Easter dinner using another recipe. After trying one, I was a little disappointed with the texture. On a whim I decided to whip up another batch using this recipe. I’m so glad I did, because these are phenomenal! I did make a few tweaks. I don’t love nutmeg and I like a bit of citrus in carrot cake, so I added a few drops of orange oil and replaced the nutmeg with 1/2 tsp. of ground cardamom. I also added a handful of dried currants. Delicious!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this one worked so well for you! Thank you for commenting, Michael, and Happy Easter!
Sarah
I tried making this recipe by weighing my ingredients but that ended up horribly. Maybe the recipe wasn’t originally created just using cups and converted into grams so it wasn’t accurate?? Not really sure but a horrible disaster so I remade the batter using the cups and it turned out amazing. If trying this recipe I would definitely recommend using cups not weight.
Sam
Hi Sarah, nope I always measure with weights and am sure those are accurate. I’m wondering if maybe the scale wasn’t calibrated or wasn’t tared properly at some point? I’m certain the weights are correct. I am glad it worked in the end though!