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Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are a true gift to the season of spring. Moist, delicious grated carrot is speckled throughout this cake batter, along with spices and diced walnuts. I topped these with beautiful spring “grass” and buttercream flowers.
I love carrot cake. ADORE. If you’re looking for carrot cake in other sizes, look no further than my Carrot Sheet Cake or Mini Carrot Sheet Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.
Make these cupcakes and serve them alongside a perfect spring brunch. I’m thinking this Quiche with Gruyere, Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, and this Mint Vanilla Iced Coffee.
Why These Carrot Cupcakes Are The Best
A lot of times people ask me, what is your favorite type of cake. I have a hard time with this question because I love a lot of different types of cake BUT I LOVE CARROT CAKE. It has a large crumb, it speckled with warm spices, grated fresh carrots and a healthy amount of walnuts. Carrot cake is moist and delicious and then it’s typically topped with cream cheese frosting. YUM.
How to Make Homemade Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. We the usual culprits: all-purpose flour, leavening, salt and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger.
- Cream together the butter and sugars. This recipe uses both butter AND oil. The butter gives us flavor, while the oil gives this cake a lot of moistness.
- Next, pour in the oil and then crack in the eggs.
- And then, alternating between the buttermilk and dry mixture, you’re going to add them to the egg mixture. This will allow the batter to absorb slowly and properly.
- Lastly, you’re going to add the grated carrots and walnuts. YUM. It’ll smell delicious.
- I like to give it a last mix, being sure there aren’t any pocket so of flour at the bottom of the bowl.
- Divide the batter amongst the cupcake tins. I like to do this with a cookie scoop.
- Bake ’em!
Recipe Tip
Grate the carrots. I like grating up the carrot into a small grate. This gives a great texture to the carrots and adds carrot to every single bite of the cake.
Other nut options. I love walnuts in this recipe but feel free to use pecan if you like!
More spices. If you’re a lover of very warm spices, you should make my Chai Carrot Cupcakes!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, absolutely. Like all cake, carrot cake cupcakes freezes really well. To freeze cupcakes, you want to place them on a baking sheet and transfer them to the freezer for about 1 hour. When they’re rock solid, transfer them to a freezer-safe container or bag. They’ll be good for 3 months. To thaw them, remove them from their container and thaw on the counter at room temperature. Decorate when they’re thawed.
Absolutely. Feel free to save some time and skip the buttercream flowers. Just scoop on the frosting and decorate with walnuts or leave plain. Or you can add store-bought of Homemade Sprinkles.
You can definitely fold in small diced pineapple. I would use fresh (vs. canned) because I find fresh to taste better. I’m not a huge pineapple fan in my carrot cake but by all means, add it!
More Spring Recipes You’ll Love
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To Make the Cupcakes:
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake tins with parchment or paper liners.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ginger. Set the dry mixture aside.
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In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment, add the butter, white sugar and brown sugar; beat until nice and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the oil and eggs. Beat until combined.
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Alternating between the buttermilk and the dry mix, add them to the butter mixture, until just combined. Lastly, add the carrots and walnuts and mix until thoroughly distributed throughout the batter.
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Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake liners, filling them up about 3/4 of the way. Transfer to the oven to bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
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Allow them to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool before adding the frosting.
To Make the Frosting:
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Add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand-up mixer (or bowl using an electric mixer); beat until both are smooth, about 1 minutes.
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Sift in the powdered sugar and add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Beat the frosting for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness from the heavy cream really lightens up this frosting so be sure to beat it for the full 3 minutes. If the frosting is too loose, feel free to transfer it to the fridge to chill for about 10 minutes. Then beat it one last time.
To Assemble the Cupcakes:
*This post was originally published on April 16, 2019. It has since been edited and updated with new copy and republished.
