Carrot Cake Cupcakes

What I Love About These Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This carrot cake cupcake recipe is adapted from my favorite Carrot Cake recipe. It is scaled and portioned into 12 cupcakes, topped with the most delicious cream cheese frosting and, optionally, a super easy and cute white chocolate carrot topper!

Here’s what I love about this recipe:

• Moist and soft crumb that almost melts in your mouth.
• Rich with warm spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
• Quicker and easier to make than a layer cake.
• They are always a hit when I bring or serve these cupcakes!

And then there is the cream cheese frosting topping these irresistible cupcakes—as they say, icing on the cake! This flavor pairing is always delicious, whether you’re making a carrot cake loaf or even a carrot mug cake!

About These Cupcakes

• Flavor: These cupcakes are scrumptiously spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. You also have brown sugar, a little plain yogurt, carrot’s natural sweetness, and a creamy, tangy, sweet frosting.
• Texture: They are soft and moist, with a crumb that stays fresh without being greasy!
• Ease: This is an easy dessert recipe that can be made by hand or with an electric or stand mixer. The frosting is best when made with a mixer for that creamy, velvety finish.
• Time: These cupcakes take about an hour and a half to make, between making the batter, baking the cupcakes, and cooling before frosting.

Key Ingredients You Need

One of the delightful things about this cupcake recipe is that it uses mostly staple kitchen and pantry ingredients.

1. Brown Sugar: This simple ingredient not only sweetens the carrot cake cupcakes but also lends a depth of flavor and additional moisture. You can use either light or dark brown sugar. I’ve made these with light brown sugar (because, as mentioned, I had it in my pantry), but dark brown sugar creates a beautiful, dark color I love, too.
2. Spices: Warm spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger add that quintessential flavor profile expected with carrot cake.
3. Cooking Oil: A neutral oil, like vegetable oil, will keep these cupcakes fresh and moist and allow the delicious flavorings to shine!
4. Yogurt: Contributes a soft, richer, more moist texture that perfectly balances the sweetness.
5. Carrots: While carrots are the star of this dessert, the flavor profile would also be delicious with shredded apples or zucchini too.
6. Baking Essential Ingredients: To hold these delicious ingredients together, we’re using pantry staples like all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, salt, leavening from baking powder, and baking soda and eggs to provide structure and a key ingredient for fluffy cupcakes.

Let’s talk about add-ins. If you want to add raisins and nuts (like chopped walnuts or pecans), you will fold in about 1/2 cup to the finished batter just before transferring to the muffin tin cups.

How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Set aside. Whisk the oil, brown and granulated sugar, eggs, yogurt (sour cream), and vanilla extract together until combined, and then whisk in the carrots. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold or whisk them together until combined. The batter will be slightly thick.

Transfer the batter into the lined cups with a spoon or large ice cream scoop. Bake for 21–23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

How to Make Carrot Toppers

Melt 4 ounces of white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Follow package instructions, but generally, I melt it in 20-second increments, stirring after each until perfectly smooth.

Divide the chocolate into two bowls. Then, tint one bowl with orange gel food coloring and the other with green gel food coloring. I use this set of gel food coloring that I purchased on Amazon.

Pour the tinted chocolate into two piping bags, sandwich baggies, or squeeze bottles. If using piping or plastic sandwich bags, snip off the tip or a corner of the baggie.

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drizzle the orange melted chocolate into a zig-zagged carrot shape, then drizzle the green melted chocolate onto the tops to make the carrot stems.

Refrigerate the pan until the carrots are set, which only takes a few minutes. White chocolate can soften at room temperature, so store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve the cupcakes.