Best Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Incredibly moist carrot cake cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting! Perfect for dessert, afternoon tea, or brunch!
It wouldn’t be spring without carrot cake! And these carrot cake cupcakes are one of my favorite spring desserts. Incredibly moist, tender carrot cupcakes topped with a decadent cream cheese frosting.
These are so incredibly good– I resist using the word best for most things because, of course, best is subjective. But I really believe these are the best. I shared them with several neighbors and friends as I was making them and they agreed– these are the best carrot cake cupcakes.
They are also naturally vegan cupcakes as written and to make them completely dairy-free, use your favorite vegan substitutes for the cream cheese and butter in the frosting. More details on that, below.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
These carrot cake cupcakes are almost fool-proof to make. The process is straight-forwarded enough that even a novice baker can feel like a top chef with these recipe.
That said, there are a few things to consider when it comes to ingredients.
I call for all-purpose flour here and don’t recommend trying to sub in whole wheat flour or other dense flours, like spelt or buckwheat. The tender texture of the muffins needs lighter flour, especially with the heavier grated carrots and walnuts! I have not tried these using a gluten-free flour blend.
The DIY buttermilk, aka mixing together milk and vinegar, is essential to this recipe and you cannot skip it. The acid from the vinegar tenderizes the gluten in the flour, producing a more tender crumb.
I use oat milk here because I rarely have dairy milk in my house and oat milk is better for baking in my opinion because of it’s higher carbohydrate content. That said, other non-dairy or regular cow’s milk will work.
Using oil over butter makes for a more moist cupcake. I prefer a neutral oil, like a vegetable oil or a canola oil, but avocado oil also works too.
I love nuts in my carrot cake and prefer walnuts here, but pecans will also work. I use my mini food processor to quickly blitz the nuts to a fine crumb, but you can also use a knife to finely chop.
I use a box grater to shred the carrots, but you can also use a food processor fitted with a shredding blade. Lastly, don’t skip the orange zest! It adds so much flavor to these carrot cake cupcakes.
How to Make these Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Whisk together dry ingredients
Whisk together dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Make the buttermilk
Combine the milk and vinegar together and set aside. After 5 minutes, add the wet ingredients to the buttermilk (vanilla, oil, orange zest).
Add wet ingredients
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together.
Add the carrots and walnuts
Grate the carrots and finely chop the walnuts. Fold gently into the batter.
Divide into cupcake pan
Lightly spray two cupcake pans with non-stick spray or line with cupcake liners. Divide the batter into the pan, filling about halfway through. Bake until tender and a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool, then frost
Remove the cupcake pan from the oven and let cool in the pan for at least ten minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until well combined, then add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until combined. Pipe onto the cupcakes and serve.
More Cupcake & Muffin Recipes
- Nutella Cupcakes
- Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pistachio Muffins
- Lemon Olive Oil Muffins
Recipes to Make with Leftover Carrots
- Simple Roasted Carrots
- Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
- Carrot Ginger Soup
- Carrot Cake Banana Bread
- Thai Coconut Carrot Soup
If you make these carrot cake cupcakes, make sure to come back to leave a rating and a comment. Your feedback helps other readers and seeing you make my recipes makes my day!
Best Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Equipment
- Stand Mixer, or hand mixer
- Muffin Tin
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- 1 cup milk*
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
- 2 cups grated carrots, about 4 medium carrots
- 1 cup very finely chopped walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray two cupcake pans with cooking spray and set aside.
- Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside. This creates a buttermilk and makes for incredibly moist cupcakes; don't skip it!
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Add the oil, vanilla and orange zest to the bowl with the milk and vinegar. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and combine them, taking care not to overmix
- Fold in the carrots and walnuts until just combined. Divide into the prepared cupcake pans, about 2/3 full.
- Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
- When cool, frost! Combine the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment until light in color and airy, about 5 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar and vanillaand whip another minute until light and cream
- Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!