These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are the BEST! Fluffy and plush with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting all over top.
The Best Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
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 1x
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
Units
Scale
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 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
- 5 tablespoons butter (I prefer salted butter)
- 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar (plus additional as needed)
- 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 and delicious.
- 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
Can you add nuts and raisins to these cupcakes?
Sure can! Just mix them into the batter at the end before baking.
Can I use liners in the pan?
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.
Can I make these in a mini muffin tin?
Love that idea! Just reduce the bake time to 10 minutes and check on them from there.
Can I made these cupcakes dairy-free?
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).
Can I use a different oil for 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!)
More Spring Baking Recipes I Love
April 9, 2025
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
Just when I was wondering what to serve for Easter dinner! I’ve never commented here before but I’ve followed your blog for many years and I figured it was long past time for me to voice my appreciation for my favourite food blog! Phenomenally flavourful yet simple, healthy, and creative recipes, many of which are plant-focused – your cooking style is the way I love to eat! Your freezer meal guide is life-changing and many of your recipes are in my personal hall of fame. Thank you so much for providing the most incredible, free resource for us home cooks, Lindsay! Keep up the amazing work!
❤️ Megan
Love to hear this, Megan! Thanks for the comment!
These cupcakes look AMAZING!! Perfect for Easter!
I understand we all want nice fluffy cupcakes; however, canola oil is one of the worst oils anyone can use. it is considered a seed oil. Seed oils are one of the oils that can hurt our bodies. Maybe a mixture of avocado and coconut oil. I do not know the answer just know that people should try to find an alternative to these harmful oils. I am still looking.
Totally agree with this…I will probably make with avocado oil! She didn’t mention testing with melted butter…wonder if that would work as well? I’m all about avo oil, coconut oil, and grass fed butter!
Is it possible to make this in a 8 in pan? My daughter wants to make it for easter, but she wants it to be a layered cake. Would you say to begin checking it at 30 – 35 minutes?
I apologize, I meant two 8 inch cake pans for a two layer cake.
This should work in a round pan, but you’ll likely want to double the recipe to bake two layers!
Would this yield one, one-layer 9-inch cake?
Yes, it would!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes! I’m just wondering how you personally feel about making these cupcakes without the cream cheese frosting.
Still delicious! More like a carrot cake cupcake/snacking bread without the frosting!
I will give yours a try as I also love carrot cake. The best I’ve had to date are Nagi’s from RecipeTineats
https://www.recipetineats.com/carrot-cake-cupcakes/
These carrot cake cupcakes are a game changer! I made them for a family gathering, and everyone absolutely loved them. The cream cheese frosting is perfectly creamy and complements the cupcakes so well. Can’t wait to make them again! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe! 🥕🧁
Wondering if you have made the cupcakes and frozen them and then added the frosting the day of serving? Do the taste moist ?
Lindsay was 100% correct on this carrot cake muffin…
excellent…not too sweet.
i substituted Grapeseed oil instead of Canola. Great texture.
I’d love to know your magic trick for keeping the cupcakes/muffins from sticking to the muffin tin. Share your secrets! 🙂
I’ve tried everything, and they never come out as pretty as yours. Can’t wait to try making these this weekend!