These Carrot Cupcakes have gotten a lot of rave reviews. The cake is soft and moist, slightly spiced, with a little bit of crunch from the walnuts, and the cream cheese frosting is a must.
Spiced carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting is a classic combination and a tricky way to sneak vegetables into your dessert. Plus the shredded carrot really helps keep these cupcakes super moist and delicious for days.
Table of Contents
Why this recipe works
- This carrot cupcakes recipe is easy enough to make with your young bakers at home.
- It is perfect for Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or as a fun weekend project.
- It can also be made into a two-layer 6-inch mini carrot cake!
- The added carrot helps these cupcakes stay moist for days.
If you’re looking for a full size carrot cake, check out my favorite carrot cake recipe.
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips for each ingredient:
- Flour – I use all purpose flour. If you want to make this gluten free, try Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur gluten free flour. Readers have successfully substituted gluten free flour in some other recipes. However, I have not tried it with this particular recipe.
- Leavening agents – I use both baking soda and baking powder. The baking soda will be activated by the acidity in the buttermilk and brown sugar. And the baking powder will give it additional lift in the hot oven.
- Salt – I always use kosher salt in all my recipes. If using table salt, use about half to two thirds as much.
- Spices – I use just a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe for a very lightly spiced cake. If you want the flavor to be stronger, you can adjust the amount of spices to your taste. Other spices you may see in carrot cake include ginger, cardamom, allspice and cloves. I think ginger will play well with cinnamon and nutmeg. While I love cardamom, I think cardamom and clove would be too strong for this cake.
- Buttermilk – I used reduced fat buttermilk. You can use any type of buttermilk you can find at the grocery store. Or make your own buttermilk by adding lemon juice, yogurt, or sour cream to regular milk. I have a reader who made these with straight yogurt and it turned out just as delicious.
- Oil – Butter adds flavor to cakes but oil makes them ultra moist. Since we want the flavor of the spices to shine, use a flavorless oil like vegetable or canola in this recipe. You can use olive oil if you want, though olive oil may impart some flavor to your cupcakes.
- Sugar – Brown sugar will add flavor depth, richness and additional moisture to these cupcakes. You can use either light or dark brown sugar, but if you don’t have brown sugar, you can substitute granulated sugar.
- Egg – Just 1 egg is used to bind everything together.
- Vanilla – pure vanilla extract is used to enhance the flavor of the cupcakes and also to flavor the cream cheese frosting. Be sure to stay away from artificial vanilla flavoring.
- Carrot – it’s not carrot cake without grated carrots. So for obvious reasons, there is no substitution for carrots. You can shred your carrots using a food processor or a box grater.
- Walnuts – I added walnuts for textural contrast. Pecans will work here too.
- Cream cheese – this is used in the cream cheese frosting. I would use full fat cream cheese for a richer frosting, don’t use light cream cheese.
- Butter – unsalted butter is also used in the cream cheese frosting. Make sure not to use salted butter or you’ll end up with super salty frosting.
- Powdered sugar – this is used to sweeten the cream cheese frosting. I don’t usually use a lot because I like my frosting less sweet. You can increase the amount of sugar called for if you like a bit sweeter frosting.
Tools you’ll need
You can make the cake batter entirely by hand, but there are a couple of special tools you’ll need.
- A food processor or a box grater to grate the carrots.
- A standard size muffin pan to bake the cupcakes in.
- A stand mixer or an electric mixer to make the frosting.
- A kitchen scale is recommended to measure the ingredients.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
The following instructions, step by step photos and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Make the carrot cake batter
First, prepare the wet ingredients by beating together buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in brown sugar until it dissolves completely. And then mix in the shredded carrot until evenly distributed.
Next, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and fold until incorporated. Fold in the chopped toasted walnuts.
Tip: Toasting the walnuts before adding it to the batter is highly recommended to bring out their flavor. It only takes a few extra minutes. Once you do it, you’ll never go back to using untoasted nuts.
Divide batter among 12 cupcake cavities using a large ice cream scoop. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Make the frosting
Beat softened butter and cream cheese together until creamy. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Stir in powdered sugar and slowly increase the mixer speed and beat until the frosting is fluffy.
Nothing completes carrot cupcakes better than a creamy and tangy cream cheese frosting. I wouldn’t dare put any other frosting on it. Pipe it on, smear it on, however you do it, it’s gonna be delicious. Finish it with a few sprinkles of chopped walnut over the frosting.
If you want more tips on how to make the cream cheese frosting, check out my post for the cream cheese frosting recipe.
More baker’s tips
- I like to use a food processor to chop up the carrots, but help it out by cutting the carrots into smaller pieces first. If you don’t have a food processor, a box grater works just fine.
- I used 2 medium carrots in this recipe. They were about 8 oz total before peeling and shredding. It helps to have a kitchen scale to get precise measurement for the carrots or you can just weigh them at the store.
- I did not pack the shredded carrot when measuring them for this recipe. However, the best way to ensure you use just enough carrots is to weigh them. Be careful not to over-pack the carrots because too much can make your cake too wet.
- This recipe will make 24 mini carrot cake cupcakes. Reduce baking time to 13-15 minutes.
- You can use a pastry bag with a piping tip to frost the cupcakes if you wish. Spreading the frosting with a spatula is much faster and easier though.
FAQs
This cream cheese frosting does not have a lot of sugar so it will not be very stiff. You can add more sugar if you’d like your frosting sweeter or simply pop it in the fridge for half an hour to allow it to stiffen before frosting your cupcakes.
Walnuts add texture and nuttiness to these soft and tender carrot cake cupcakes, but if you have a nut allergy, feel free to omit. Or if you don’t like walnuts, simply substitute pecans.
Using oil yields a more tender cake and keeps it moist for days.
I have never made these with pineapple, but I’ve seen many different variations using pineapple, apple sauce, raisins, coconut, etc. If you want to add pineapple, I would remove the same amount of carrot because pineapple will add moisture to the cake batter.
Storage
Room temperature: if you are planning to serve them the same day, you can leave them out on the countertop for the day if it is a cool day.
Refrigerator: Frosted cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator since the cream cheese frosting is made with dairy products, and they will last up to a week.
Freezer: These carrot cupcakes freeze very well and will last for up to three months. You can store them in an airtight container, or place them on a tray and freeze until the frosting hardens, then wrap them well and store in a freezer bag. Thaw in the fridge overnight or on the counter for a couple of hours before serving.
More cupcakes perfect for Easter
- Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
- Lemon Cupcakes
- Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
- Banana Split Cupcakes
- Pina Colada Cupcakes
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📖 Recipe card
Carrot Cupcakes
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (162 g)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cup buttermilk (180 g)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (107 g)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup light brown sugar (lightly packed, 144 g)
- 1 ¼ cup shredded carrot (170 g)
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts (toasted, 30 g)
- More walnuts for topping if desired
- Melted butter for cake pans if needed
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature, 227 g)
- 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature, 113 g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (75 g)
Instructions
- Make the cake batter: Start by toasting the walnuts in a frying pan over medium heat for 3 – 5 minutes until fragrant. Let it cool and chop into smaller pieces.
- Scrub the carrots clean, trim the end and peel the skin off. Cut them into smaller pieces and shred them in a food processor or shred them with a box grater. This should yield 1 ¼ cups.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a regular size muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
- Add buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add brown sugar and mix until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add shredded carrot and mix until evenly distributed.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg into a medium mixing bowl. Add the salt and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and fold until incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Divide batter evenly among twelve cupcake cavities using a large ice cream scoop and bake for 17 – 19 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Make the cream cheese frosting: In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until thoroughly mixed and creamy.
- Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.
- Add powdered sugar and stir until incorporated, gradually increase the mixer speed and beat until fluffy.
- Add a scoop of frosting on each cupcake and spread it with an offset spatula or butter knife. Add chopped walnuts on top if desired. Serve right away or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- Vegetable oil, canola oil or olive oil will work in this recipe.
- If you don’t have buttermilk, use regular milk, sour cream, yogurt or make homemade buttermilk by mixing regular milk with lemon juice or sour cream/yogurt.
- 2 medium carrots, about 8 oz total in weight, will yield enough shredded carrot for this recipe.
- This recipe will also make 24 mini cupcakes. Reduce baking time to 13-15 minutes.
Nutrition
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Susan
Hi!
Just curious……..
Has this recipe ever been made in a 9×5 loaf pan?
If so ….. what was the oven temperature and baking time?
I look forward to your reply…thank you!
Trang Doan
Hi Susan, I have not made this recipe in a loaf pan but you could try it. Oven temperature should be the same 350F, as for time, some of the loaf type cake recipes I have are in the range of 45-50 mins bake time, so it may be around that time, but I would recommend checking earlier, let’s say 35 mins to make sure you don’t end up overbaking it. Record your bake time for the next time round. Let me know how it works out!
Susan
Hi!
Just thought I’d let you know that I just made the carrot cake cupcakes recipe and did use the loaf pan……it worked perfectly!
Thank you again for the great recipe(s).
😊
Trang Doan
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know Susan!
Cathy
I’ve now made this cake four times over the last year. Definitely a favourite carrot cake recipe and the size is perfect! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Trang Doan
Thank you Cathy! So glad to hear you love it! 🙂
Jasmin
Hi! I’m making this recipe for my boyfriends birthday tomorrow. He is allergic to peanuts, and tries to avoid any other nuts in general (he’s not allergic but I don’t blame him) is there anything other than nuts to add to the cake?
Also if I go without the nuts will I ruin the cake? Any suggestions would be helpful!
Trang Doan
Hi Jasmin, you can omit the nuts. It will lack a bit of texture but some carrot cakes don’t have nuts and that’s fine too. You could add raisins or some dried fruits to the cake if you’d like. It won’t have the same texture as with nuts but it will give some interest. Let me know how it turn out and happy birthday to your bf!
Patricia
How do I adjust this for high altitude? 😊 (I’m currently at 7000 ft)
Trang Doan
Hi Patricia, I don’t know how to adjust personally, but here’s a good article for it.
Sherry
Need Carrot Cake for Easter dessert bar and I had used your recipe before and we all loved it as well as your 6″ chocolate and red velvet cake. Looked for the recipe and could not find. So glad you still had it on your post. Love all your recipes and your great instructions. Happy Easter to you and Yours.
Trang Doan
Thank you Sherry. Were you looking for the big carrot cake? I have another post for a full size cake.
Mia w
I made This recipe tonight with two Wilton’s 6×2 cake pans & did enjoy the flavors, size. The frosting is also delicious. However, I did Feel like this cake is too oily for a carrot cake. I had To make a few adjustments but I doubt That impacted the canola oil amount. I had Whole milk & mixed in the lemon juice- let it sit for 10 minutes to make the buttermilk & also added chopped toasted pecans vs walnuts. I did have home made apple sauce on hand but didn’t want to alter the recipe too much so this was not added. I would Like to make this again to see if 1/4 cup of my home made apple sauce & 1/4 cup of canola oil would make a difference. I also Live in high altitude 5280 above sea level here in Denver & this recipe did work well for altitude baking. Thank you for reviewing & sharing. Please let me know if adding daisy sour cream would’ve been a better Option over the milk & lemon juice.
Trang Doan
Milk and lemon juice works well to substitute buttermilk, but lately I’ve been using a mixture of half milk + half yogurt or sour cream as substitute and that works well also.
Mia W
Update to my previous post: so I gave Half of this carrot cake recipe to my cousin who is very picky & he gave it an A + I also Could not stop eating it. It’s delicious & I do Believe the oil was fine but the cake after baking tasted great after setting in the fridge over night. This will be my new go to recipe for carrot cake moving forward.
Trang Doan
Thanks for the update Mia!
Mia w
You’re welcome. Omg I just Spent forever trying to find this recipe online again after I decided I want To make it. So happy you are still online sharing your recipes. Thank you. Also, I just Read your replies
Trang Doan
Thank you for trying my recipe Mia!
Bernadette Gwen Diaz
Can I double the recipe for an 8 by 4 inches cake?
Trang Doan
Hi Bernadette, I have a recipe for a full size carrot cake here.
Alicia
Made the carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting….amazing!
Absolutely loved them. Thanks, all the way from South Africa!
Trang Doan
So happy to hear you enjoyed them!
Helen King
Normally make a carrot loaf but having made your strawberry mini cake a few weeks ago I’m now obsessed with your recipes and decided to make your carrot cupcakes yesterday. They are very easy to make and turned out great!! I added some orange zest to the icing as it does in my normal recipe and I think it does give a nice flavour. I’m now gonna look through your chocolate cake recipes as my dads birthday is coming up! 😃
Trang Doan
Thank you Helen! I’m so glad you like these recipes. Happy birthday to your dad! I hope he’ll enjoy the chocolate cake too. It’s one of my favorite cakes 🙂
Patsy
This carrot cake is delicious and the perfect size! I have made it several times to give as Christmas gifts. The recipients loved it. I love your tips for using milk with lemon juice since I do not keep buttermilk on hand. Thank you for sharing.❤️
Trang Doan
Thank you Patsy! I’m so glad to hear, and so appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. Happy holidays!
Joanna
Hi, if I want to make just one layer of 6 inch pan, can I half of all the ingredients?
Trang
Hi Joanna, yes you can half the ingredients, the tricky one will be the egg. You can use a scale if you have one or beat it first and measure out the volume, then half it.
Emily Musgrave
or freeze the other half.
Regina Park
HI!!
I’m very happy that I have found your carrot cake recipe for 2 layer of 6 inch cake. I’ll try this for my mom and brother’s birthday this coming weekend.
I have one problem though. I got only one 6 inch round cake pan. Will the baking soda and baking powder not activate if I try to bake the first cake then wait for it to cook and cool down? Hope you answer this. Thank you!!!!
Trang
Hmm… ideally you’ll want to bake as quickly as possible whenever you have baking soda in the batter because baking soda will activate right away while baking powder activate under heat. This recipe has both, so even if you baking soda fizzles out you should still have some lift from the baking powder. I want to suggest reducing the baking soda to 1/4 tsp and increase baking powder to 3/4 tsp instead in this case. This should help with the second cake. Let me know how it turns out, I hope your mom and brother will enjoy this cake 🙂
Sarah Mikkelsen
The best carrot cupcakes!
I loved that the frosting wasn´t to sweet and the spice in the cake is lovely.
Thank you for a great recipié.
Trang
Thanks Sarah! So glad you enjoy these cupcakes 🙂
Krystal
This cake is so good! It’s the best carrot cake recipe I’ve made, and I have tried a few. I really like that it doesn’t use pineapple (ick) and it’s still moist. This will be my go-to now.
I will add I think the frosting is too loose. I added alot more powdered sugar so it was easier to ice the cake with and it not slide everywhere.
Trang
Thanks Krystal, I’m glad you like the cake. With the frosting, I purposely made it with less sugar but if you’re okay with a sweeter frosting, that’s totally okay. Otherwise, you could try to refrigerate the frosting before adding it to the cake. Either way should work and depends on your preference for sweetness level. Thanks again for making my recipe, and stay safe!
Carmen
I just finished making your Chocolate Coconut Yogurt Muffins, so i have one cup of plain yogurt left. Can i use it to replace buttermilk? I LOVE Chocolate Coconut Yogurt Muffins, i made twice total 24 muffins and finished them all, in less than 4 days!!!! They are sooooooo good.
Trang
Hey Carmen, thank you so much! Your comment made my day 🙂 I’m so happy to hear you love them. Which recipe are you planning to replace the buttermilk with the coconut yogurt? I think it should be able to work, but let me know so I can check it out and see if there’s anything to be aware of. Happy baking!
Carmen
I want to make CARROT CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. So i want to replace the buttermilk with the leftover yogurt. Thanks so much for all the great recipes! I love the pistachio cupcakes too, that i also made twice within a week!
Trang
Those are one of my fav too, love those pistachio cupcakes!
Carmen
The yogurt is plain one, not coconut. I wonder if it should be ok to replace the buttermilk for carrot cupcakes 🙂
Trang
That should be okay for this recipe. But yogurt is thicker than buttermilk, so I would thin it out a bit if you have some regular milk. Maybe do 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/4 cup milk. If you don’t have milk, then just use all yogurt, should be fine.
Carmen
I used all yogurt (don’t want to waste it) and the cupcakes turned out great! My daughter loves it!!! Thanks for all the great recipes!
Trang
Awesome!! I’m glad it worked fine, and thanks for letting me know.
Jennie
My 8 year old daughter & I made these today for Father’s Day. So easy that my daughter did 90% all by herself. They turned out super moist & delicious!! This recipe is a definite keeper!
Trang
Thank you Jennie, so glad you had a good time making these with your daughter!
Maha Khan
Going to make it for my family. Hopefully, I make it as great as it looks, fingers crossed!
Trang
I hope you have fun making these and hope your family will like them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Ken and Mai
well done! scrumptious looking.
Susan
Hi!
I have been baking and cooking for 50+ years, tried many, many, MANY recipes from multiple sources and this is my first time commenting on an online recipe.
This carrot cake cupcake recipe is
EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!
Oh my goodness……..
It is moist, but not soggy/mushy……
It was very easy to make…..
It didn’t take long to bake…..
It was VERY tasty
The only thing I changed, I didn’t add walnuts!
I followed the directions exactly……
THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this recipe.
Now, I’m going to look at your other recipes!!!!
😃😃😃😃😃😃
Trang
Hi Susan! Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to leave a comment. I’m so glad you love this recipe. And please let me know when you try some others. 🙂