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!
So easy and moist. My 11 year old loves to make these…I’m always begging her to make more!
Hi! Could I use oatmilk instead of milk?
Hi Bri! I think that will work here. 🙂
I love crushed pineapple or pineapple tidbits in carrot cake & soaked (in the pineapple juice) golden raisins in carrot cake. Has anyone tried that with this carrot cupcake recipe without making the batter too wet?
Hi Christy! I haven’t personally done it, but others have reported doing so with success. 🙂
I doubled the recipe for my son’s birthday and it turned out great! Super moist! 5/5 highly recommend!!
So simple, and yet perfect! Same review from my husband!
This recipe is amazing! If I substitute for gluten free flour, will it still come out the same?
Hi Alexa! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I haven’t personally tried it, but others have reported using a 1:1 gluten free flour with success. 🙂
Amazing cupcakes, very moist and delicious, even without the frosting!
Do you have any other suggestions for frostings other than the cream cheese?
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Jannat! While cream cheese frosting is traditional, you could use many other frostings like: buttercream, a Swiss meringue buttercream, whipped cream, or even Ermine frosting. 🙂
Really moist and not too sweet!
This recipe was so good! I made a batch for a friend for her birthday and she said her family would pay me to make them so i think they were a hit! i will forever trust any sugarspunrun recipe 🫶🫶
Sounds like they were definitely a hit, Fern! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 🩷
Is it me or it makes no sense that half a cup of granulated sugar can weight the same as half a cup of light brown sugar. The measurement in weights seems to be random.
They are the same. 🙂 I have standardized these measurements on my website. 🙂
Any recommendations for high altitude with this recipe?
Thank you!
Unfortunately we aren’t familiar with high altitude baking 🙁
Hi! If needing to triple the quantity, would you just triple the ingredients or make three separate batches of batter? Thank you!
Hi Eve! You could triple the ingredients. The only thing I would caution is that you don’t over-mix the batter.
I used this recipe for cupcakes and they were a hit! now I want to make in cake form . same measurements for a single cake?
Hi Lindsay! I would recommend using my carrot cake recipe for a cake. 🙂
I so appreciate the way you’ve written your recipe. Being able to see how much of each ingredient is involved in each step saved me the worry of missing something or making a dumb mistake. Thank you for being so thoughtful!
We’re so happy it’s helpful, Annie!
Made these for the first time today, they turned out GREAT!
If making with no nuts and no raisins should I increase the carrot?
Hi Kelsey! No need to add extra carrot. 🙂 Enjoy! 🙂