These carrot cupcakes are a moist and delicious dessert!
Carrot cupcakes turn a favorite dessert into delicious cupcake packed with shredded carrot, nuts, and pineapple.
Ingredients for Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Quick and easy, just mix the dry ingredients into the wet, add the goodies, then bake!
- Milk & Vinegar: You can replace this combination with buttermilk. This mixture adds flavor, moisture, and helps the cupcakes rise.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this recipe, while baking soda is the leavening agent for rise.
- Warm Spices: These add flavor, of course. You can replace them with pumpkin pie spice or add a pinch of nutmeg or cloves for extra warmth.
- White: Is added for sweetness.
- Coconut Oil: Along with applesauce, coconut oil adds moisture. It can be replaced with unsalted butter.
- Eggs: Use large room temperature eggs for better blending.
- Carrots: For the best texture, grate the carrots yourself with the large holes on a box grater.
- Add-Ins: Walnuts add a lovely crunch (substitute pecans), while pineapple adds moisture and flavor. We love raisins and coconut but feel free to mix and match the add ins to your liking.
Frosting Options
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Coconut Frosting
How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Carrot Cake is one of those desserts I’m known for, and I’m always asked to bring it to gatherings.
- Make the soured milk and set aside.
- Whisk the dry ingredients (except sugar) in a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, cream the eggs, sugar, and oil until smooth. Stir in applesauce, vanilla, and soured milk (as per the recipe below).
- Add flour and stir until just combined. Fold in carrots, walnuts, pineapple, and raisins.
- Bake in muffin cups until a toothpick comes out clean.
Pro Tips
- Avoid overmixing the batter otherwise, the cupcakes won’t rise properly.
- For best results, use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups for equal-sized cupcakes.
- Wrap the cupcakes separately before freezing so you can add one to a backpack or briefcase and they’ll be thawed in no time!
- For fewer calories, enjoy carrot cake cupcakes with a dusting of powdered sugar or swirl on a tangy cream cheese frosting!
- Or, try this easy icing recipe for decorating cupcakes, too.
Storage
Keep leftover carrot cake cupcakes in a covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Freeze the cooled cupcakes in a zippered bag for up to 2 months.
Did your family enjoy these Carrot Cake Cupcakes? Be sure to leave a rating and comment below!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil room temperature
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 8 ounces crushed pineapple 1 can, drained
- 1 cup raisins or flaked coconut
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with liners.
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Place the apple cider vinegar in a ¾ cup measuring cup. Fill the remaining space in the cup with milk. Stir and set aside.
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In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
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In a separate bowl, combine sugar, coconut oil, & eggs until smooth. Stir in apple sauce, vanilla, and soured milk.
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Add flour mixture stirring just until combined.
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Fold in carrots, walnuts, pineapple, and raisins. Do not over mix.
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Fill each muffin cup ⅔ full and bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
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My family doesn’t like pineapple how would I adjust the recipe leave it out? Thank you.
Hi Marilyn, we haven’t tried this recipe without pineapple so I am not sure how it will turn out. The pineapple does add a lot of moisture and flavor. We would love to hear how it turns out for you though!
OMG! Thank you for the great recipe… so good! So very moist! I added Allspice & dash of nutmeg- The coconut oil & soured milk makes them very tasty. Shredded way too many carrots in processor, lol- but I threw them in & still awesome! I’m always tweaking dessert recipes for lower sugar/ GI effect- so trading out sugar for Truvia Baking Blend worked great too.. Thank you for sharing!
We are so happy you loved this recipe, Shelly!
I was craving a moist and flavorful carrot cake. This is not the recipe! I was disappointed because I follow step by step the recipe and the final result was a bland cupcake!! Texture was more like a banana bread. They are good but did not taste like carrot cake. My husband said that it needed more sugar, spices and probably more fat. I sent some to my neighbor and her comment was ” They taste pretty healthy” I’m still searching and hoping to find the perfect carrot cake recipe!
So sorry to hear that Marlene! We loved these cupcakes as written, you could try this carrot cake recipe and make it into cupcakes if you prefer!
Excellent recipe! Only change I made was I used half butter and half coconut oil and used chunk pineapple cut up a little smaller as I like to bite into pineapple : )
Frosting recipe was SO perfect with the lemon!!
Thank you!!
Can’t wait to try these!! If I were to make these as MINI cupcakes, how should I adjust the cooking time? Thanks!
Mini cupcakes usually need about 15-18 minutes at 350°F. Let us know how it goes!
How much oil should be used instead of coconut oil?
Oil and coconut oil are generally subbed 1/1 ratio.
Can you use melted butter instead
I haven’t tried it but other readers have with great success. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out Natalie!
These look amazing. Have been looking for a good carrot cake/ muffin recipe. I’m always amazed how you bake using cups, us Europeans would be lost without the weighing scales. Will try converting measurements with google and fingers crossed they come out as good as yours.
Let us know how they turn out Roisin!
Do you have a recipe for the cream cheese frosting?
Here is the cream cheese frosting. Enjoy, Debbie!
Delicious I’m going to make it for Mother’s Day nice dessert with coffee and tea
A lovely treat for Mother’s day!
If you don’t have coconut oil what can you replace it with
I think it would work fine with cooking oil. Please let us know how it goes if you try it!
Great tip about adding the apple cider vinegar to the milk before mixing. Apple cider vinegar is really good for weight loss, as it makes you feel more “full.” It also helps lower cholesterol, and helps prevent acid reflux. (who knew?) thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome Missy! Enjoy