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Topped with a heavenly brown sugar cream cheese frosting, these moist carrot cake cupcakes are perfect for spring!
Try Zucchini Cake, Carrot Cake Cookies, and Lemon Zucchini Bread for more sweet-bread veggies!
Sweet Treats to Love!
Carrot Cake is a dessert that that we make all the time for Easter, and sometimes for random occasions.
This time around, we opted for making carrot cake cupcakes instead of an entire cake.
Why we love them:
- Easy. Cupcakes are fun, easy and are great for feeding a crowd.
- The flavor. These delightful homemade carrot cake cupcakes are moist and delicious, with just the right amount of spice.
- Perfectly frosted. Top it all off with some homemade brown sugar frosting, and you’ve got yourself one tasty treat!
Although these cupcakes are a great Easter dessert, they can be enjoyed all year long!
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour – use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off.
- baking soda
- baking powder
- cinnamon
- salt
- granulated sugar
- large eggs – replace 1 egg with ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce
- canola oil – or vegetable oil
- sour cream – or Greek yogurt
- vanilla extract
- finely grated carrots – Shred your carrots using the fine side of a box grater because the prepackaged shredded carrots are too dry.
- cream cheese
- unsalted butter
- brown sugar – use light or dark brown sugar
- powdered sugar
How to Make carrot cake cupcakes
- PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
- DRY INGREDIENTS. Whisk together flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- WET INGREDIENTS. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and oil till thick and foamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and carrots, and mix well.
- COMBINE. Add the dry ingredients and stir till just blended.
- BAKE. Fill paper-lined cupcake pans half full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or with few crumbs. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Don’t overfill the cupcake liners. They should be about ⅔ full. The cupcakes do not rise too much, and that is just fine. It’s easier to frost them that way!
Bite-size Carrot Cupcakes
Follow the recipe exactly and fill mini muffin liners (in a mini muffin tin) halfway. This will likely be about 2 tablespoons of batter for each mini cupcake. Bake at 350°F for 10-15 minutes.
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
- CREAM. In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the brown sugar dissolves completely.
- COMBINE. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl, and add vanilla, salt, and enough powdered sugar to make a frosting thick enough to pipe. Use a large star tip to frost cupcakes.
Pro Frosting Tip
We used a large star tip to pipe on the frosting or use your preferred method. If spreading the frosting instead of piping, cut the recipe in half and still have more than enough.
Recipe Tips
- For pineapple carrot cake. Reduce the grated carrots to 1 cup and add 1 cup of crushed pineapple (drained). The consistency may change a little because there will be more moisture.
- Add-ins. Try walnuts, pecans, and raisins. Include any of those in the batter before baking (between ½ and 1 cup of add-ins total), or add the chopped nuts to the top of the frosting!
- Decorating suggestions:
- Top with adorable Carrot Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
- Switch the brown sugar frosting for a simple cream cheese frosting or Buttercream Frosting.
- Use different piping tips to change the look of the carrot cake cupcakes.
- Spread a simple layer of frosting. Use a piping bag with a small tip to pipe on a cute carrot shape with orange and green frosting.
Storing Info
- STORE. Frosted carrot cake cupcakes must be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or the cream cheese frosting will go bad.
- Unfrosted cupcakes can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- FREEZE. Carrot Cake recipes freeze very well. It’s best to freeze them before they have been frosted, but cream cheese frosting freezes well too, so it’s not a problem if they are frosted.
- Place the cupcakes in an airtight container or heavy-duty freezer bag (taking care to not smash the frosting, if frosted), and store in the freezer for 4-6 months.
For More Easter Desserts:
And be sure to check out our entire collection of Easter Dessert Recipes!
Carrot Cake Cupcake Recipe
Topped with a heavenly brown sugar cream cheese frosting, these moist carrot cake cupcakes are perfect for spring!
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ + ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ + ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups finely grated carrots
Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- dash salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar (more or less, if needed)
Instructions
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
- Whisk together flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and oil till thick and foamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and carrots, and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and stir till just blended.
- Fill paper-lined cupcake pans half full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool completely.Don't overfill the cupcake liners. They should be about ⅔ full. The cupcakes do not rise too much, and that is just fine. It's easier to frost them that way!
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the brown sugar dissolves completely.
- Add vanilla, salt, and enough powdered sugar to make a frosting thick enough to pipe. Use a large star tip to frost cupcakes.
Video
Notes
This makes enough frosting to generously pipe frosting on the cupcakes. If you will be spreading it on, you can cut the recipe in half.
Nutrition
Calories: 341kcal, Carbohydrates: 46g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 47mg, Sodium: 130mg, Potassium: 48mg, Sugar: 39g, Vitamin A: 375IU, Calcium: 30mg, Iron: 0.6mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For more delicious recipes by her, head on over to Creations by Kara!
i only try the cupcakes and i must say they are so tasty thanks for sharing your recipe from now on ill be making them often
You are so welcome!! Thank you so much for letting me know & for trying them!!
Can you freeze the icing by itself?
You could!
These sound delicious! I can’t wait to try them! Thank you for the great recipe.
They are!! I hope you like them! I’m glad to share 🙂
I made these yesterday and OMG! Sooo good. The brown sugar frosting is to die for!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing!
Hey! Can you suggest an alternative for sour cream? I can’t find any here in my country ????
You could try buttermilk. I would just google the amounts though. Hope that helps!
Thanks for responding i’ll try with that! 🙂
Should I be using light or dark brown sugar for the frosting?
I like to use light when I bake 🙂 Hope that helps and hope you like it!
The carrot cake cupcakes are delicious! I added some pecans and they were moist and flavorful. The frosting was amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Glad to share!! I am so glad you liked them! Thank you for letting me know!
I just made these and they are wonderful! The cupcakes are yummy and moist and the frosting is amazing! I added some pecans to the batter before baking and next time I’ll try raisins. Thanks for sharing!
Will the recipe work good for a cake? I made these as cupcakes last week and they were amazing.
I haven’t tried, but I don’t see why not. I’m glad you liked them! Thank you. If you try it as a cake, let me know how it turns out.
I really want to make these but I love pineapple tidbits in my carrot cake. Do you think I would need to do anything different if I add them to combat the extra moisture?
I wish I knew. I haven’t tried adding pineapple. Maybe just squeeze the liquid out of it first. Wish I could be of more help. Good luck!
I’ve been looking everywhere, I found a great blog about the carrot cake cupcakes. thanks very helpful at all. although I am male but love to make cupcakes. 🙂
Thanks so much and nothing wrong with that 🙂
Hello there! I am a little confused on how much baking soda and powder to put in the cupcakes. It says 1/2+1/8 tsp. what does this mean? Thank you!
It is 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon for each of those 🙂 Enjoy!!