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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!
this recipe is phenomenal! My family loved them so much that I MADE THEM ALL THROUGHOUT THE HOLIDAYS AND i PLAN ON BAKING SOME MORE THIS WEEK. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE RECIPE. 🙂
I am so glad you like them!! Thank you for sharing this recipe with your family!
made it anD it’s delicious! My picky eater kid loved it, he repeatedly said ‘thank yoU Mom for the Super yummy cupCakes’! Thank You for sharing yoUr recIpe!
Oh, that makes me so happy to hear!! Thank you so much for letting me know!
I would lIke to make this cup cake, but I don’t have sour cream nor buttermilk, can I remove it?
My family loved the cupcakes. The cupcakes were gone in less than 24 hours. Just the right amount of sweetness in the icing. First time using sour cream in a carrot cake recipe, but it works. This recipe will be added to my monthly recipes to bake.
Yay!! Sour cream makes them so moist! I am glad your family loved them. Thank you so much!
Tried this recipe and everyone loved it! Best carrot cake recipe ever
Yay!! Love to hear that! Thank you so much for sharing that!
Made these as mini cupcakes over the weekend. Delicious! Followed recipe exactly, and put one tablespoon batter in each mini muffin, It made 48 mini’s exactly, and took about 16 minutes at 350 to bake. I did pipe the frosting, and probably ended up with about 1/4 of the frosting leftover.
Oh, and I also put some chopped pecans on top, because yum.
Glad you liked them!! Adding pecans is a great idea 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Hi, i was just wondering if i could use vegetable oil in place of the canola oil?
You sure could 🙂 I hope you like them!
Can I use oat flour for this recipe?
I have not tried, but I am sure you can 😉
This recipe was awesome. Super moist and the taste is OMG..sublime. I made one small change…just added 1/2 cup crushed pineapples and just used 1 cup carrots…but hands down one of the best carrot cakes recipes I’ve come across. great recipe!!! ????????????
Love hearing that!!! Thank you so much for sharing & giving it a try!
Hi, this sounds amazingly delicious and simple! I was wondering how much, if at all, you try to squeeze the moisture out of the shredded carrots before using them.
Yes, you can. I don’t think you need to though. It adds a little more moisture 🙂 But, you totally can, if you are worried about them being soggy.
Thx! 🙂