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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.
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Most amazing carrot cake recipe very easy ti follow. The best thing about this recipe it can be made in advance and frOZen. WHen thawed it is still as moist as the day made.
The icIng is a wonderful compliment
Thank you for sharing that!! I am happy that you like them 🙂
This recipe was perfect! Im picky about baking recipes, but this is So delicious!!!
Yay, I am glad you liked this recipe! Thank you for trying it & for letting me know!
Your ingredient listing says 2 plus 1/8 tsp for Each baking SOADA AND baking powder. But, your instructions say 1 Plus 1/8 tsp each. WHICH IS it?
It is 1/2 tsp plus the 1/8 tsp 🙂
THESE WERE ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!! CAKE WAS MOIST AND FLAVORFUL AND THAT FROSTING WAS PERFECT! VERY WELL RECEIVED BY EVERYONE THAT HAD ONE.
I love hearing that! I am glad you tried them! Thank you!
This recipe was sooo yummy! I baked it as a cake, and just needed to double the baking time. The frosting was to die for. Lots of people said it was the best carrot cake they ever had!
Perfect!! I need to make it as a cake! Thank you so much!
these turned out very nice I did tweak a few things. I added some applesauce to cut down on the oil. i used only half a cup of coconut sugar And I added a few raisins on top of the muffins because I forgot to add them into them. next time I will put crumbled walnuts on top of the muffins. and I may try pumpkin spice instead of cinnamon.
I got 12 fair sized muffins out of my batch. easy straightforward and cooking time was spot on. thanks
Sounds perfect! Thank you so much for sharing that!
MAde this last year for Easter and I’m making them again this year. The frosting was a huge hit. But I cant remember if I used salted or unsalted butter. What do you use? Thank you!
I like to use unsalted butter when baking 😉
So I don’t usually leave comments, but I simply must with this recipe! These cupcakes, coupled with the frosting are absolutely amazing! I’ve had some recipes that haven’t turned out even when I followed them to the letter. not so with this one! Followed it exactly and they came out perfect!! I can’t say enough good things about this recipe! Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe!!
Thank you so much for sharing that & for leaving a comment. I love to hear them! I am so glad you liked them!
First time, i followed the instruction to a t and the cupcakea were fantastic. Had way too much feosting, so i froze half of it.
Fast-forward to today and i Followed the recipe again, but baked thw batter in two small LoaF pans (350 for 40 minutes) and topped with the thawed frosting from before. I like Then even better as a loaf (you get thw slightly crunchy edges).
Love this recipe – thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing that!! I will have to try that!
i made these cupcakes the other day and they were amazing and super moist. do you think this batter would work for a cake?
You know, I have never tried, but I don’t see why not?! I am glad you liked them!