Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

3.40 from 23 votes

If you love carrot cake, then you definitely need to try these Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting! They’re moist, have a delicate cupcake crumb, and LOTS of delicious frosting.

Easy Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe

For the longest time, I didn’t like carrot cake. Or more specifically, I didn’t like the idea of carrot cake. I didn’t think carrots belonged in dessert, so I always opted for chocolate instead.

But since carrot cake is my Dad’s absolute favorite, we’d always have it at least once a year for his birthday. And after finally giving it an honest try probably around age 14, I realized that it’s actually one of my favorite cakes too. So flavorful, extra moist, and topped with cream cheese frosting — how could you go wrong?

So today, I’m sharing these carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They have a soft cupcake crumb, hint of cinnamon, delicious carrot cake flavor, and fluffy cream cheese buttercream. Then I decorated mine with little carrots piped out of orange and green candy melts, just because!

What’s in Carrot Cake Cupcakes?

This carrot cake cupcake recipe has three components: the carrot cake cupcakes, the frosting, and the cute carrot toppers (which are optional, but highly recommended!). Here’s what you’ll need to make the cupcakes:

All-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon and nutmeg
Baking soda and baking powder
Salt
Vegetable oil
Granulated sugar
Brown sugar
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Grated carrots
Milk
Unsalted butter
Cream cheese
Heavy cream
Powdered sugar
Candy melts

How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes

To get started making the cupcakes, first whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Then beat together the oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract and grated carrots. Carefully stir in the dry ingredients, and then add in the milk. This recipe will make about 14 cupcakes, so you may have to make them in 2 batches if you only have one pan.

Then the carrot cake frosting is a simple buttercream recipe that’s deliciously creamy and tangy. For the frosting to be thick enough to pipe, we’re using more butter than cream cheese. First beat together the cream cheese and butter, then slowly beat in the powdered sugar and whipped cream.

To make the carrot decorations, I used a small round tip and a disposable piping bag. Then on a piece of wax paper I piped orange candy melts into a triangle shape for the carrot, and green candy melts for the stem/leaves.

Can I Freeze Carrot Cake Cupcakes?

Yes, these carrot cake cupcakes can be frozen up to 3 months. Be sure to freeze them without the frosting, though. If desired, you can make a big batch of cream cheese frosting and freeze it in a separate container, or you can simply make a fresh batch when you thaw the frozen cupcakes.

How to Store Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Because these carrot cupcakes are topped with a cream cheese frosting, you should store them in the fridge. You’ll want to store them in an airtight container so they don’t dry out in the fridge!

Tips for Making Carrot Cake Cupcakes

These carrot cake cupcakes are moist with a delicate cupcake texture because we’re using oil and finely grated carrots. To get finely grated carrots, I use the same grater as I would for zesting oranges, or grating hard cheeses like parmesan.

Even though grating your own carrots takes a little extra time, the texture is so much better than the store-bought kind. But use whichever you prefer!

I used a round tip to frost my cupcakes since I’ve always found cream cheese frosting a little too soft to pipe using a star tip, but you can frost them with a knife too.

These carrot cake cupcakes are perfect for Easter and spring time, and they’re best carrot cake cupcake recipe I’ve ever tried!

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