Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Whether you like carrots or not, I promise you’ll love these cupcakes. They’re super moist and spongy and are topped with a beautiful cream cheese frosting.
I often start planning new recipes but never get around to making them since I am always coming up with new ideas and forgetting the recipes I previously planned.
I’m specifically referring to this carrot cupcake recipe I planned halfway through last year. Almost every month I’d pick up a bag of carrots from the shop with the intention of making carrot cupcakes, but the majority of the time I would end up leaving them in the fridge for them to be cooked into dinner.
A year ago I made my younger brother a jungle-themed birthday cake, which I made with 4 layers of carrot cake. This is basically the recipe from my brother's birthday cake converted into a cupcake recipe because the cake was so good.
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Ingredients For Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Carrot cake uses simple ingredients that you may already have available in your kitchen. Below is a list of ingredients you will need as well as why you need them to make this recipe. Let's start with…
Flour: For this recipe, I used plain flour also known as all-purpose flour. It's super important that you weigh out the flour as accurately as possible. Excess flour can lead to a dry and dense cupcake and I’m 100% certain you don’t want that.
Walnuts: I find a good carrot cake needs some texture and the best way to incorporate that is by adding nuts like walnuts you can also use pecans as well. I usually pulse them in a food processor for a few seconds so there is a variety in size. The smaller nuts add moisture to the cake while the slightly larger ones add texture.
Cinnamon: To add warmth and flavour to the cupcakes I like using cinnamon because the flavour works really well with carrot cakes.
Salt: Sometimes a small amount of salt can really help boost and enhance those delicious flavours.
Raising Agents: This recipe uses Bicarbonate of Soda as this helps the cupcake rise.
Oil: To achieve a delicate crumb and spongy texture I use oil instead of butter. Any flavourless oil like vegetable oil will work. The oil also helps the cupcakes rise taller like muffins.
Sugar: The sugar will add sweetness and add additional moisture to the cupcakes.
Eggs: To ensure the cupcakes hold their structure this recipe uses 2 large eggs.
Carrots: It wouldn’t be a carrot cake without the carrots. It’s best to grate your carrots by hand, rather than buying pre-grated carrots. This is because freshly grated carrots contain so much more moisture.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
The cake batter comes together in no time, so it’s a great recipe if you are short on time but still want to bake something fresh and delicious.
- Add all the dry ingredients (flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, salt and walnuts) to a bowl and whisk until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl will prevent you from over-mixing the cupcake batter.
- In another bowl add the eggs, sugar and oil. Then whisk until smooth and well combined.
- Add the carrots and fold them through using a large spatula, until thoroughly combined.
- Then add the prepared dry ingredients to the bowl and continue to mix until all the ingredients are just combined.
That’s pretty much it for the carrot cake batter. All that’s left to do is line and fill your cupcake cases 2/3 of the way, ready for them to go in the oven to bake.
How To Check If The Cupcakes Are Done?
There are two easy ways to check if your cupcakes are done.
- Gently press the top of the cupcake. If the cupcake springs back it means they are done.
- You could also use a skewer or a toothpick. Insert the skewer near the centre of a cupcake, if the skewer comes out clean, the cupcakes are done.
Cream Cheese Frosting
To take these cupcakes to a whole new level of deliciousness, cream cheese frosting is the way to go. The recipe I use is perfect because it isn’t overly sweet and tangy.
If your not a fan of cream cheese frosting that's okay. You can use American buttercream to decorate your cupcakes instead. Just use the 1:2 ratio of butter to Icing sugar with a splash of milk if necessary.
Tips for Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting
If you live in the UK you may have noticed they don’t sell blocks of cream cheese, they only sell soft spreadable cream cheese. This can sometimes make cream cheese frosting difficult to make because it's not as firm. The first time I attempted to make cream cheese frosting was an absolute fail, the frosting was just a liquid mess. It's one of those recipes that can just go easily wrong so here are a few tips I have learnt along the way…
- Use room-temperature butter and cream cheese. If the ingredients are cold they won’t blend well together causing a lumpy frosting texture.
- Make sure you pour out any excess water from the cream cheese packet. There’s always a tiny amount of liquid that sits at the top. The extra water content will make the frosting runny and not pip-able.
- Use block butter rather than spread, the same goes for other buttercream recipes. Block butter holds its shape and firms up when chilled.
- Use good quality full-fat cream cheese. The fat content makes the cream cheese thicker and firm.
- For a strong flavour try using vanilla bean paste instead of extract. The flavour in the paste is a lot stronger but also leaves beautiful specks of vanilla bean in the frosting.
Decorating The Cupcakes
Originally I planned on using a round piping tip, but halfway through baking, I decided I wanted to use a closed star piping nozzle instead. Feel free to use any piping tip you want.
To make the cupcakes look more like carrot cakes I decorated each one with a mini fondant carrot. I brought my decorations from Asda, but you could probably find them in your local supermarket too.
Also, I topped each cupcake with a pecan to add a bit more warmth to my design.
You could also try crushing up some walnuts and sprinkling them over the tops of each cupcake too.
If you do try this recipe don’t forget to tag me @sabsbakes or use #sabsbakes I would love to see your designs and ideas.
If you liked this cake recipe you might also like…
The Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
These carrot cupcakes are irresistible. Each cupcake is topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting and decorated with pecans and cute mini carrots.
- 140 grams Plain Flour
- 160 grams Caster Sugar (Crushed into fine pieces)
- 85 grams Walnuts
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
- 2 Eggs
- 150 milliliters Oil
- 125 grams Grated Carrots
- 140 grams Unsalted Butter
- 140 grams Icing Sugar
- 280 grams Soft Cream Cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract/Paste
- 12 Mini Fondant Carrots
- Pecan Nuts
Preheat the oven to 160C Fan and then line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases.
In a bowl add the flour, walnuts, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon. Then give the ingredients a whisk for a few seconds. Once done set aside and begin preparing the wet ingredients.
To a separate bowl, add the sugar, oil and eggs. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
Next, add the grated carrots and fold them through using a spatula.
Then add the prepared dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until all the ingredients are just combined.
Fill each cupcake case 2/3 of the way. Then place the filled cupcake tray in the preheated oven for around 20-23 minutes.
Once the cupcakes have baked allow them to cool fully before decorating.
To make the cream cheese frosting and butter to a bowl and whisk until pale in colour. Then add the icing sugar and continue to whisk until well combined. Finally, add the cream cheese and whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined. Try to avoid over-whisking the cream cheese because sometimes it can cause the frosting to become more runny.
After the cupcake has fully cooled. Pipe the cream cheese icing onto each cupcake and decorate with mini fondant carrots and pecans.
Once decorated enjoy.
