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I looooooooved this recipeeee ❤. Super moist and with just the right amount of sweetness. Thank you, thank you, thank you !
Marine
Video To Make These Cupcakes
The Carrot Cake Cupcakes That Won My Heart
OOH BABY these are so good! My husband’s favorite dessert is carrot cake, so the bar is high for us to have a really solid house-favorite carrot cake cupcake recipe.
(I’m also very attached to this carrot cake coffee cake, which is a bit more brunchy, so we now have options.)
They are fluffy and plush with a nice little domed top, but they are also dense and buttery-ish enough to feel like a proper carrot cake!
I am not much of a decorator, but my sister made these little cute carrot toppers a few years ago and I’ve been thinking about them ever since – they will get you some ooh’s and ahh’s at Easter brunch. (Instructions for making them is in the notes section of the recipe.)
Moist, tender, not overly cluttered, and crowned with cream cheese frosting. It’s a thing of beauty. Hope you love them!
The Best Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 cupcakes
Description
Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting! Plush and springy, but also dense and moist, with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting all over top.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- 3/4 cup canola oil (see notes)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar (190 grams)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 medium carrots, peeled, grated, and chopped (180 grams – about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour (160 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (I use table salt)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 5 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 5 tablespoons butter (I prefer salted butter), softened
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with nonstick spray. (I like these without paper liners – they get a perfect ridged edge and nice little domed top, plus a chewier edge!)
- Carrots: Grate the carrots, and then roughly chop them into smaller, papery bits. You can also do this in the food processor, but when compared side by side I liked the grated and chopped version better.
- Cupcake Batter: Whisk the oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until combined. Fold in the carrots. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Bake: Fill each muffin tin about two thirds of the way full with batter. Bake for 16-17 minutes. Gently press on the centers – if they spring back, they’re done. If not, give them another 2-3 minutes. (Using paper liners will require closer to 19 minutes.)
- Cream Cheese Frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla; mix until smooth. It should be structured enough for piping, but if it’s not, just pop it in the fridge for a moment to solidify.
- Frost and Enjoy: Pipe the frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes; serve immediately or store in the fridge. (They’re also great a day later!)
Notes
What Type Of Oil: We tested this with avocado oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, and coconut oil. (!!) I loved the coconut oil – it gave a supremely delicious, buttery texture when warm, but they became firm and dry as they cooled. Since I’m guessing most of us would be making these ahead of time to take to a gathering, I wanted these to be baked with an oil that would stay soft and moist even when cooled. With that in mind, canola oil is a good choice because it stays soft and moist for several days.
Carrot Amounts: You can get a lot of variation with carrot sizes! I made this many times, and I highly recommend weighing the carrots if you can – I use this scale (super easy to use). I weigh them after I peel them and cut tops off, so I know exactly how much carrot (and flour, and sugar) I’m adding to the recipe.
Making Carrot Toppers: Optional, but my sister did this years ago (idea from Sally’s Baking Addiction) and it’s the cutest. Here’s my method for it: melt 3 squares of almond bark in the microwave for 90 seconds, checking it at 30 second increments. (Almond bark is much easier to use than white chocolate, in my experience.) Divide it between two bowls and use gel food coloring to make a light orange (a few drops of red + a few drops of yellow) and a green. Transfer the orange to a baggie, snip the corner, and pipe out small triangle-shaped squiggles onto parchment or wax paper. Then, do the same for green. I placed a small green dot at the top of the carrot and using a toothpick to fan it out into a 3-pronged carrot top. They’ll cool in about 20 minutes and be ready to pop onto your cupcakes!
Sweetness of the Frosting: If you find the cream cheese frosting to be too sweet for your liking, you can make some whipped cream and fold it into the cream cheese frosting to make it more fluffy and butter rather than more sweet. Great idea from a commenter recently!
Liners vs. no liners: I prefer to bake these without paper liners – they get a nice little crispy ridge, and the contrast of the chewy, slightly caramelized exterior is the perfect contrast with the fluffy insides! Like so! 
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: carrot cake cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, carrot cake
Frequently Asked Questions For This Recipe
Sure can! Just mix them into the batter at the end before baking.
Baking directly in the muffin tin without the liners is my favorite way to bake these! They bake up perfectly, they get a nice edge that contrasts the rest of the muffin, and they should look very beautiful without the paper! Downsides of paper liners: they take longer to bake, and these are very moist muffins, so if you’re making them a day ahead, the oil may saturate the paper liners.
Love that idea! Just reduce the bake time to 10 minutes and check on them from there.
The carrot cake cupcakes, as written, are dairy free. For the frosting – I’ve never tried it, but I would imagine using dairy-free butter and vegan cream cheese would work for the frosting (like this recipe).
I prefer a neutral-tasting oil for this, so canola oil or vegetable oil. I also loved coconut oil in these, but they didn’t stay as soft once they cooled. (See the notes of the recipe for my full comments on our experiences testing other oils!)
This looks so delicious. I am getting ready to bake this for my clients to celebrate 10 years of business! Is the oven degrees in C or F please? Thank you ❤️
F!
I made the carrot cake cupcakes but found them hard to release from my cupcake tin and they broke because they were also so softy and for me not sweet enough but the frosting will help I won’t make them again
when you son in law sends you text late on a Sunday night, saying this… Those carrot muffins are a killer. I just ate 3 and had to have a serious talk with myself about the 4th.
You know it’s a keeper.
Thank you. I am a new follower and this was an amazing recipe.
Could you elaborate on why this recipe was changed? I’ve made the previous one and wondering what to expect with this one vs the older one. Makes more, flavor, texture?? Thanks,
We changed it so it wasn’t as sweet and less greasy!
Hi Lindsay, I made the Carrot Cake Cupcakes today. Oh my! These are amazing and my husband loved them as well! I doubled the recipe and they came out perfect. I always use the USA pans, no sticking at all. I will mention that I went to reprint the recipe in the 2x and I noticed that the grams were changed on the grated carrots but not the brown sugar or flour. Just a note I thought you might want to know, or maybe you already aware of this! Thank you again for such a wonderful recipe!
I thought 3/4 C oil sounded a lot as I was making these. It was. My fingers were so greasy.
One recipe I saw had 1 1/2C flour with a 1/2C oil and pretty much the same measurements otherwise.
Tastes good, but I will try the other recipe.
Thanks
Hi,
I’m wondering if you still have the original recipe that you could share? I’ve noticed the ingredients and process has changed since I first started making them in 2019. I prefer the original recipe but I can no longer access it. I would love it if you could please share it. Thank you.
These are amazing! I love carrot cake, and it’s now dangerous that I can make it. I added walnuts, and they are perfect.
I pressed 2x recipe. Unfortunately the grams of flour did not double. Disaster baking morning!
Hey, I was wondering if I could get a link to the old recipe of this. I’m sure this one is great but my family and I absolutely adore the old one. Thank you!
I love this recipe! I just wanted to point out that when I went to use the 2x recipe to double it, the quantities in grams was not doubled along with the quantities in cups/spoons. I nearly made some big mistakes, as I like to use metric measurements when available to be more precise. the portions in grams remained for the 1x recipe, whilst other ingredients were doubled, which can lead to big mistakes!
If I double recipe(24 cupcakes) and add raisins and nuts, what is the measurement of raisins and nuts.
Hi! Your recipe was my go to! A crowd favourite. I’ve always doubled the recipe. The last time I made these would have been maybe a year ago? Your images have changed and show liners? Is the recipe the same? I feel like before it was carrot, oil, eggs and vanilla then all the dry ingredients together?
This batch came out crumbly and stuck to the pan – and I’ve made them so many times before without that happening.
Hi Kara! We did update the recipe this Spring after a lot of testing. We actually prefer not using liners; we have some insight on that in the notes section. I’m sorry to hear they stuck for you, we see that happen when someone is using an older muffin tin that has lost its non-stick coating. Could that have been the case here?
Do you use cake flour?
Regular all-purpose flour!
Delicious! Will definitely make again!
These turned out fantastic and were perfect for Easter!
I made these cupcakes using gluten free flour and they were delicious well worth making
Oh, awesome – thanks for letting us know they work with gf flour!
These muffins are amazing! They are moist and chewy with just the perfect amount of sweet. The cream cheese frosting just puts them over the top. So easy to make too! Thank you for this recipe, it will definitely be on rotation in my house.
You never miss! I’ve loved your blog for years but am new to baking and I knew you wouldn’t steer me wrong! Even when I was second guessing whether there was enough batter or frosting, it came out so perfect! Delicious, fluffy, flavorful and the simple frosting is so good I’ll never buy store bought again! Thanks for another Pinch of Yum success!
Let me tell you! I’ve made these twice and they were an absolute hit both times. My husband and kids LOVED THEM. They were so good I paid a neighbor to take down a fence and used them as payment. 10/10 recommend
So glad they were enjoyed!
I made these for Easter and everyone raved about them! They came out perfect – followed the recipe for the cupcakes exactly. I cut the frosting with whipped cream and really liked the consistency and slight reduction in sweetness it provided.
Oh, love the whipped cream idea! Glad the cupcakes were enjoyed.
Made these as our Easter dinner dessert. Delicious!! Cut marshmallows in half to use as bunny ear decorations. So cute.
The bunny ears, such a fun idea!
I just made these yesterday and they’re wonderful! Moist and springy, they’re holding up great in the fridge on their second day. Had no trouble getting them out of a greased muffin tin with a small offset spatula and some patience. I also added about 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts. Overall it was an incredibly easy and straightforward recipe.
I decreased the amount of powdered sugar in the frosting to 2 cups and am glad I did–even that was a bit sweet for my taste. Other than that change, I’ll make these again for sure!
I looooooooved this recipeeee ❤. Super moist and with just the right amount of sweetness. Thank you, thank you, thank you !
So glad to hear that! Thanks for making the recipe.
No notes!! Made these for an Easter brunch and they were a hit. So many compliments. I used vegetable oil and they were so moist. I also cut the powdered sugar in the frosting by about half and found frosting to be plenty sweet and delicious.
Glad they were enjoyed, Kelsey!