Carrot Cake Cupcakes are so moist and fluffy and have a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting on top! Made completely from scratch with lots of grated carrots these cupcakes are so easy to make and perfect for Easter!
We love to make easy desserts from scratch. For spring and Easter, we especially enjoy our Carrot Pineapple Cake, Easy Carrot Cake Recipe, and Easter Sugar Cookies.
These are the ultimate carrot cake cupcakes and a perfect holiday dessert! Simple and moist carrot cupcakes with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting that goes so well with the spiced cupcakes. This recipe makes a great addition to your Easter Brunch but also makes a great spring dessert.
Give these Carrot Cake Cupcakes an Easter upgrade by sprinkling the tops with toasted coconut to make little Easter nests and adding little chocolate eggs. A cute addition to every Easter table!
How to make homemade carrot cake cupcakes
Start with grating the carrots in a food processor or using a grater. Then cream the sugars and the butter together. I use mostly brown sugar in this recipes because it adds flavor and moistness which is essential for a good carrot cake in my opinion. Add the eggs, grated carrots, and unsweetened applesauce. Mix in the dry ingredients, pour the batter into your muffin pan and bake. When the cupcakes are completely cooled make the frosting.
Tips for Making Carrot Cupcakes
- Use a food processor to grate the carrots, then pulse them a few times until they are finely shredded.
- If you don’t have a food processor you can also use a hand grater
- The ground almonds add flavor and moisture! You can make ground almonds in the food processor or use almond flour.
- Using butter and vegetable oil makes the cupcakes flavorful an
- This recipe can be doubled to make 24 cupcakes
- The easiest way to get same sized cupcakes is to use an ice cream scoop with a release button to divide the batter into the muffin tin.
- I prefer to use paper liner to prevent the cupcakes from sticking, this also makes clean up easier. But you can also grease your cupcake tin.
- These cupcakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely before decorating them with frosting!
- The frosting recipe will decorate 12 cupcakes if you use as much frosting as seen in the photos. If you plan to pipe more on the cupcakes double the frosting recipe.
- Use brick-style cream cheese for the frosting. Not cream cheese spread.
How long do you cook carrot cake cupcakes
Carrot Cake Cupcakes need to be baked for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs attached.
How to store Carrot Cupcakes
These cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting. Bring the cupcakes to room temperature before serving, or they may be mistaken for stale when they’re actually just cold.
How to decorate Carrot Cake Cupcakes
My go-to decoration for Carrot Cake Cupcakes is a simple Cream cheese frosting (see recipe below). If you want to pipe roses onto the cupcakes like in the images all you need is a 1M tip
. Start in the center, then slowly move your tip in a circle around the center point. So easy!
A cute idea for Easter is to decorate the cupcakes like Easter Nests and top them with little chocolate eggs. Pipe a little nest on top of the carrot cupcake, sprinkle with toasted coconut and top with little chocolate eggs
.
How to make Mini Carrot Cake Cupcakes
To make mini carrot cake cupcakes use a mini muffin pan and bake them for 10-13 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Grease the pan and fill the muffins cups about two-thirds full. This recipe makes 36 mini cupcakes.
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Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups grated carrots, about 3 large carrots
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup almond flour, or finely ground almonds
- 1 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with paper liners.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until slightly pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add eggs, finely grated carrots, and vegetable oil. Mix until well combined.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, fill each about 3/4 full, and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the muffin pan several minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
- To make the frosting, beat together softened butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add vanilla extract and cream cheese and beat until blended.
- Frost cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
Nutrition Information
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Cassandra says
I was wondering if these could be frozen?
caren magill says
These look so darn good. I’m such a sucker for a good carrot cake treat. I think I’m more obsessed with the icing than the actual cake!
Thanks for sharing this. Love your photography!
Victoria says
These cupcakes are delicious and so easy to make! I made them this afternoon with my 3 year old son for an Easter playdate tomorrow. They are light and flavorful. I liked the addition of the ground almonds, which paired perfectly with the marzipan carrots we used for decoration on top. We followed the recipe except for adding some ground ginger and a scoop of greek yogurt to the batter. The frosting was perfect and not too sweet. Thank you :)
Natalie says
Hey there! Can’t wait to try these! This is the first carrot cake recipe I’ve found that uses butter instead of oil ❤️ What could I use if I don’t have ground almonds? Thanks!
Julia says
Hi Natalie, you can use any other ground nuts like hazelnuts or pecans instead of the ground almonds or grind any whole nuts in a food processor :-) Happy Easter!