These moist flavorful Carrot Cake Cupcakes are baked with grated carrots, warm spices, and pineapple then topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting making them the BEST dessert ever! Serve these tender and flavorful cakes at your next Easter celebration or year round!
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How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Step 1: Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and baking soda and set aside. Next line the bottoms of 2-3 muffin pans with cupcake liners. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat sugar, oil and vanilla together at medium speed. Next add eggs, one at a time, blending after each incorporation. Next slow down the mixer to lowest speed and add flour mixture in increments. Then fold in carrots.
Step 2: Once carrots are folded in, add crushed pineapple if desired and walnuts if desired.
Step 3: Using an ice cream scooper, evenly add batter to cupcake liners about 3/4s full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes until completely room temperature before adding frosting.
Step 4: In a small saucepan, add butter and melt over medium heat. Once the butter has fully melted, a white foam will begin to appear over the top of the butter. Watch carefully as the butter’s color changes to brown and the smell of the butter becomes somewhat nutty. As soon as the butter is an amber brown color, remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator until it the butter has become solid again (can take about an hour or so).
Step 5: Add cooled brown butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your mixer and beat on high speed until it begins to thicken and fluff. Next slow down mixer and carefully add in confectioner’s sugar. Once all sugar has incorporated, turn mixer back to high to continue whipping.
Add salt and vanilla extract and continue whipping until it is smooth.
Add frosting to a piping bag and frost completely cooled cupcakes. Top with homemade caramel and nuts if deserved and serve.
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Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe
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Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 2 1/2 cups self rising flour self rising flour usually has salt in it which is why it was omitted here but if you want a bit more you can add 1/4 tsp of salt as well
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple you can omit this if you want but I think it is essential/ I ONLY DRAIN PARTIALLY
- 1 cup chopped roasted walnuts optional
For the Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 16 oz cream cheese somewhat softened but still a little stiff/ 16 oz is 2 (8 oz) packages
- 3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar if you want the frosting more stiff, add another 1/2 cup going up to 4 cups total
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Homemade caramel sauce found here
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and baking soda and set aside.
- Next line the bottoms of 2-3 muffin pans with cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat sugar, oil and vanilla together at medium speed. Next add eggs, one at a time, blending after each incorporation.
- Next slow down the mixer to lowest speed and add flour mixture in increments.
- Fold in carrots, crushed pineapple if desired and walnuts if desired.
- Using an ice cream scooper, evenly add batter to cupcake liners about 3/4s full.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool cupcakes until completely room temperature before adding frosting.
For the Frosting
- In a small saucepan, add butter and melt over medium heat. Once the butter has fully melted, a white foam will begin to appear over the top of the butter.
- Watch carefully as the butter’s color changes to brown and the smell of the butter becomes somewhat nutty.
- As soon as the butter is an amber brown color, remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator until it the butter has become solid again (can take about an hour or so).
- Add cooled brown butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your mixer and beat on high speed until it begins to thicken and fluff.
- Next slow down mixer and carefully add in confectioner’s sugar. Once all sugar has incorporated, turn mixer back to high to continue whipping.
- Add salt and vanilla extract and continue whipping until it is smooth.
- Add frosting to a piping bag and frost completely cooled cupcakes. Top with homemade caramel and nuts if deserved and serve.
Notes
What to do with leftover cupcakes
As a general rule, freshly baked cupcakes will last for 1-2 days at room temperature. Cupcakes that contain frosting or filling made with dairy products or eggs, such as buttercream, meringue, whipped cream, or custard, should be immediately refrigerated. I’d recommend bringing the cupcakes back to room temperature before serving.
TIP: Leftover carrot cupcakes make for great cake pops! All you’ll need to do is mash the leftovers into a dough-like mass, scoop out individual portions using your hand or a cookie scoop, and roll each one into a round. Refrigerate the rounds for a couple hours, pop in the lollipop sticks, and dip them into pre prepared candy melts of your choice!
Can you Freeze them?
Unfrosted cupcakes can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 2 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight. Frosted cupcakes can also be frozen but it will depend on the frosting and toppings used. Whipped cream, cookie pieces, and sugar sprinkles are just a few examples of things that won’t freeze well. To freeze Carrot Cake Cupcakes, place them into an airtight container and freeze for 2 hours. Wrap each cupcake in two layers of plastic wrap and place them back in the container or in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for 4-6 weeks. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator.Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Do not overfill the liners. Each well should only be about ¾ of the way full. Any more and you’ll end up with muffins not cupcakes.
Shred fresh carrots, no pre-shredded packaged ones. Freshly grated carrots are more flavorful and moist! One large carrot will produce about 1 cup of shredded carrots. I’d definitely recommend buying extra just in case though! - Walnuts add crunch and complexity. You can leave them out if you’d prefer, or use them as garnish. Pecans are also a great option!
- Cream cheese frosting is smooth and tangy, adding browned butter takes it up a nutty notch. If you’d like to use a classic version instead, check out my recipe here.
- Decorating carrot cupcakes is easy! Kick it old school and spread the frosting by hand or use a piping bag fitted with a frosting tip. Alternatively, a zip top bag with one of the corner tips cut will work.
My Fave Carrot Recipes
If you love these Carrot Cupcakes, you will also love my Classic Carrot Cake, Carrot Bundt Cake and Swirled Carrot Cake Bars.
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Have made these 3x and am in love! I remember the cake recipe being featured a few months (or years) ago in a comparison of carrot cakes. When the mood finally struck me to make them, I’m glad I remembered grandbaby was in the name of the site and was able to locate the recipe. Was so happy to see that the website also had the cupcake version, because i’m always looking for easy handhelds for my toddler. It’s so hard to find storebought that’s not full of sugar. I make this recipe with less and less sugar each time, so far it’s still delightful. My next adventure will be trying to make it glutenfree.
Thank you ! Was thinking same thing but, was not sure. what about butter instead of oil, could I sub.butter for oil?
And thanks again for your help much appreciated.
I would like to turn the cream cheese frosting green ( for grass look lol ) When would be a good time to add it? And how much. It would be more than likely paste Coloring. Thank you for your time.
Add your food coloring at the very end of making it.
Hi Jocelyn, I love all of your recipes and can’t wait to try these. What type of cupcake liners do you normally use? I use the parchment paper liners but have found that the cupcake sometimes pulls away from the paper.
what would be a substitute or changes for the self rising flour? I plan on making this gluten free but need to know what to change with all purpose
How to make self-rising flour:
For every cup of self-rising flour called for in your recipe, measure flour carefully. You want 1 level cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour. Add 1½ tsp. (6 grams) baking powder and ¼ tsp. (1 gram) kosher salt. Whisk to combine.
Whipped up a batch of these for an afternoon treat, and they did not disappoint! Turned out perfectly light, fluffy and delicious!
I never would have thought about adding pineapple juice but it really adds to the recipe!
The answer to your question “what to do with leftover carrot cake cupcakes?” is to call ME! I would devour them in no time – these look fanfreakingtastic! And they have the perfect ratio of frosting to cupcake! Scrumptious!
My family loved these! Thank you! 🙂
These carrot cake cupcakes are just the perfect portion size for me. They are moist and the frosting has the right amount of sweetness!