Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The BEST carrot cake cupcakes with tangy cream cheese frosting!

Ok everyone today were taking carrot cake! Any carrot cake fans out there? I’m such a big fan. One of my wedding cake flavours was ever carrot cake. It was insanely delicious!

I make carrot cake every year for Easter which means my Uncle gets a chance to make the same joke every year. “Danielle did you grate the carrots?” Yep the joke is getting old but the cake is not.

I’ve experimented extensively with carrot cake over the years, nuts, no nuts, pineapple, yogurt, coconut etc etc etc. But the recipe I’m sharing today is a classic carrot cake. I like serving it as cupcakes because we tend to do dessert buffets at Easter and I think cupcakes are better for that. Also layered cakes are a ton of work so I tend to save them for birthdays.

For my carrot cake I got nut free in the base. The cupcakes pictured are topped with nuts but you could skip that if you want. There are nut allergies in my husbands family and mine so we tend to keep our gatherings nut free. Hence why you wont find a tone of desserts containing nuts on my site.

All carrot cake recipes require some sort of moistening ingredient. I’ve used greek yogurt, apple sauce and crushed pineapple. My favourite is sour cream. For a super moist classic carrot cake this is a must.

As for the frosting I always make cream cheese frosting. I follow a 2:1 ratio of cream cheese to butter ratio. From there I add confectioner sugar and vanilla until the flavour and consistency is just right.

Now no more stalling lets get to this recipe! I know you’ll want it on your table at Easter!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes and Cream Cheese Frosting

Yields: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Carrot Cake:

• 1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Cloves
• 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Brown Sugar, lightly packed
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 cup Sour Cream
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Medium Carrots, grated

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup Butter, softened
• 3 cups Confectioner Sugar (more if needed for texture)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 count muffin tin with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer beat vegetable oil and brown sugar until combined. Add eggs and mix on high until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla, continue to mix until combined.

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix on low until just combined. Add grated carrots and fold into batter. Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Beat cream cheese and butter on high until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar and vanilla, beat on low until combined and fluffy. Once cupcakes are cool, frost and enjoy!

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.