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.
Jorie
Hey is there any thing i can sub for milk? I need to make a dairy free option. Also thanks for this recipe
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Jorie! You can substitute almond milk or coconut milk. Generally, I don’t advise those as substitutions, but it’s such a small amount of milk it should be fine in this recipe. I hope that you enjoy your Carrot Cake Cupcakes! Let me know how they turn out! 🙂
Stacey Youngblood
Hello! I love the decoration, so different! Would you mind sharing what brand the confetti is, or at least where you got it?
Sam
Hi Stacey! They actually came from Wal-mart. They are made by choco-maker and found in the cake decorating section of the store. 🙂
Tully
Hi! How much would I need to cut the time for mini cupcakes?
Sam
Ooh, I’m not positive as I haven’t made them into minis before, I’m sorry!
meghana shetty
Hi ,
This recipe was a hit at my place! Everybody loved it absolutely… I want to try eggless carrot cupcake too, could you please help me with the recipe?
Sam
Hi Meghana! Leaving out the eggs would cause an issue. You would have to make other alterations. I haven’t tried do it with these cupcakes, so I’m not comfortable advising on the best way to do it. I’m sorry.
Arielle
These are amazing! How would you adapt to make it into a loaf?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed! I unfortunately haven’t tried as a loaf yet so I can’t advise.
Chinmayi
I’m so glad you made a recipe just for the cupcake version of carrot cake! I added chopped walnuts and ate them without frosting (trying to cut back on sugar) and they taste great!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes so much! 🙂
Meghana
Can we use multi grain flour instead of all purpose flour for this!?if yes , what would be the measurements?
Krystal
Perfect muffins, taste is beautiful so light fluffy and moist. Will be my go to carrot cake recipe now! Thank you so much
Sam
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed, Krystal! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Lori
These are absolutely amazing!! The recipe was perfect and I added both nuts and craisins. My new “go to” recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Lori! Thank you for the comment! 🙂
GG
I give your recipe a big thumbs up…
Danielle L
These turned out wonderfully! I used both the cupcake recipe and the cream cheese icing recipe. They both were shockingly simple and soooo yummy! I did walnuts but no raisins (agreed, why??). This is my new go-to for carrot cake!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes Danielle! I’m not a big raisin fan either, but walnuts are great! 🙂
Kat
Very helpful and I just love this recipe
Sam
Thank you so much, Kat! I’m glad you enjoyed the cupcakes! 🙂
Rida Abdul Jaleel
Greetings from India,
Made these substituting the canola oil for butter and they turned out delicious. my whole family couldn’t stop having them. this will be my go to recipe from now on 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Rida! Thank you for the feedback using the substitution. 🙂
Molly
Would you recommend squeezing out the excess moisture from the carrots. I plan on using baby carrots and they always seem to be very heavy on the moisture when they’re fresh. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Molly! I never do but I haven’t tried this with baby carrots. If they seem really watery after shredding I’d probably gently pat them with a paper towel. I hope you love the cupcakes!
Molly
They were an absolute hit with my coworker. The cream cheese frosting is to die for as well! Thanks for delicious recipes!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear it! Thank you so much for commenting, Molly! 🙂
Helga
Hi !
How long ahead can you make them and what is the best way to store them?
Thank you so much !
Sam
Hi Helga! The cupcakes are good for probably about a week in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 🙂
AMM
Greetings from Ireland.
Your cupcakes and frosting got rave reviews at recent family event (used slightly less oil as couldn’t do it ;))
Would highly recommend! Thank You
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the cupcakes! I visited Ireland last year. Gorgeous country. 🙂
Hannah
Made these yesterday and they’re delicious! I’m based in the U.K. so canola oil was substituted with rice bran oil and I added a half cup total of sultanas and chopped almonds. Will definitely be making these again.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Hannah! 🙂