Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Easy carrot cake cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting are the best springtime dessert. Instead of making a whole carrot cake, make a batch of these cupcakes that are easy to serve and even easier to eat.

If you need an excuse to make a batch of these carrot cake cupcakes allow me to share a few:

• It’s spring and that means carrot cake!
• Or, it’s almost Easter – make a batch for the holiday!
• Or, how about, you deserve it – make a batch!

Or, if you’re like me, you don’t need an excuse because making a batch of homemade carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting is just fun and they are so, so good. They are also easy to give away because no one can resist them.

Easy Carrot Cake Recipe

What I love about this recipe is that the cupcakes are really easy to make. You don’t need a fancy stand mixer – technically, you should use a hand mixer to make the batter, but I have made it with just a bowl and spoon and it works fine.

There’s just the right amount of shredded carrots, spices, and chopped walnuts in the batter so the cupcakes have the best texture. The nuts are optional, though, so feel free to omit them.

And the frosting. It’s just what you want – a swath of tangy rich cream cheese frosting to finish the cupcake. I mean, is it even carrot cake without the cream cheese frosting?

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground nutmeg
• Salt
• Brown sugar
• Unsweetened applesauce
• Vegetable oil or canola oil
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• Grated carrots
• Chopped walnuts
• Softened cream cheese
• Room temperature unsalted butter
• Confectioner’s sugar

How to Make the Cupcakes

Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.

In separate large bowl, mix the wet ingredients.

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Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients mixing until just combined. Add the shredded carrots and chopped nuts and stir.

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Line a cupcake or muffin pan with paper liners or other cupcake liners and fill each 3/4 full with batter. This recipe makes 18 cupcakes so you will either need two pans or bake the other six in a separate batch.

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Bake the cupcake for five minutes at 375°F. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F and finish baking them for 13 to 15 minutes. They are done when you insert a toothpick, and it comes out clean.

Allow them to cool on a wire rack completely before frosting them.

How to Make the Frosting

Place the room temperature butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until well combined.

Slow add the powdered sugar and mix until it’s absorbed. Mix in the vanilla extract.

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How to Frost the Cupcakes

Fancy: Fit a piping bag with a star tip and fill the bag with the frosting. Pipe it onto the cooled cupcakes.

Fancy-ish: Don’t have a piping bag? That’s okay – scoop all of the frosting into a resealable bag, snip off the corner and use it to pipe the frosting.

Rustic aka no bag available: Top each cupcake with a dollop of cream cheese frosting and then use a dinner knife to smooth it into a creamy swath of rustic-looking frosting.

Sprinkle chopped walnuts over the top of the frosting for decoration.

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Tips and Suggestions

• If you don’t like nuts, feel free to leave them out. You can also use chopped pecans instead of walnuts.
• When measuring flour, I like to stir the flour in the container first to fluff it up and then spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off.
• The easiest way to grate or shred carrots is with a box grater or a food processor fitted with the grating disc.
• If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients together. You can also use the paddle to make the frosting.
• For moist carrot cake cupcakes, use oil to make the batter. Vegetable or canola oil is key in achieving the right texture for the cupcakes, and it also gives them lots of moisture.
• Homemade cream cheese frosting is so good, but if you’re in a rush feel free to use premade frosting. It’s okay! They will be great!
• You can make the cupcakes ahead and frost them later. Just keep them in an airtight container. Frosted cupcakes will keep best in the refrigerator for a few days.

Soft, fluffy cupcakes with that rich cream cheese frosting – this carrot cake cupcake recipe is so good you’ll find any excuse to make them, even if it’s just to treat yourself to the best carrot cake this week. Make them – I know you’re going to love them.

Happy baking,

More Dessert Recipes

• Triple Berry Crumble
• No-Bake Cheesecake Parfaits
• Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Lemon Cupcakes

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