Carrot Cake Cupcakes – Everyone’s favorite Carrot Cake, now available in cupcake form! They’re ultra-moist and wonderfully spiced, then topped with fluffy cream cheese icing. These tiny buddies are incredibly tempting, but they’re also a piece of cake to create. These are soft, fluffy, and moist! These cupcakes are usually a success since they are made entirely from scratch with genuine shredded carrots and the option to add nuts or raisins. Make sure to top them with the finest cream cheese icing you can find. These spicy cupcakes are delicate and delicious, with a simple cream cheese icing. Ideal for Easter or any other time of year! I topped them with a homemade cream cheese frosting, but a vanilla buttercream icing would also work well. These treats are rich in taste and texture, thanks to the ideal mix of shredded carrots and toasty spices.
Table of Contents
Carrot Cake cupcakes Recipe:
Let’s get one thing straight: the inclusion of carrot in these cupcakes isn’t so much about sneaking in virtuous veggies as it is about adding flavor. It’s not at all carrot-y (is that a word?). It has no effect on color at all.
So, what’s the point of adding carrot?
Because it softens as it bakes, it gives the crumb its trademark softness without disintegrating all over the place. It’s comparable to how zucchini is used in Chocolate Zucchini Bread. There is no way to see or taste the zucchini. However, it will be the most chocolate-y, ultra-moist bread you’ve ever had. Carrots are just another method to accomplish this. Plus, we can act like it: Look mom! I’m getting my vegetable fix!
Why Will You Enjoy These Carrot Cake Cupcakes?
- Delectably moist
- Exceptionally spiced
- Coconut-y
- Quick and simple to make
- This is a fantastic make-ahead recipe.
- Cream cheese icing was used as a garnish.
Ingredients:
- Oil: Any mildly flavored oil will suffice. I like avocado oil, but vegetable or canola oil would also work.
- Granulated and brown sugars are both used.
- The other wet components are eggs and vanilla extract.
- Flour: I always use all-purpose flour in this recipe. However, white whole wheat flour can be substituted.
- Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are among the spices used.
- Baking soda and powder are both used in this recipe.
- I used fine sea salt in this recipe.
- Freshly grated carrots: Grate them by hand using a box grater, use the shredding attachment on a food processor, or buy them pre-grated to save time.
- Chopped nuts (such as pecans or walnuts), shredded coconut, and/or raisins are optional additions.
Ingredients For Cream Cheese Frosting:
When it comes to carrot cake, I go all-in. This cream cheese frosting is 100 percent decadent, 100 percent wonderful, and a thousand percent worth it. It’s made from:
- Full-fat or low-fat cream cheese can both work here. Please keep the temperature at room temperature!
- Butter should be at room temperature as well.
- Vanilla
- Powdered sugar: Basically, however much is required to get the desired consistency. (You may need a little extra if you’re planning to pipe the icing on.) I don’t typically have much patience for sifting ingredients, but sifting your powdered sugar is worth the extra effort if you want a super-smooth frosting.
How To Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes?
- Grate the carrot and measure out the canned pineapple first.
- Using a normal box grater, shred the carrot. Hold the carrot perpendicular to the ground to produce short strands rather than at an angle to generate lengthy strands.
- Excess liquid should be squeezed out of canned pineapple.
- Pineapple juice – Measure out 2 tablespoons pineapple juice; and crushed pineapple – Measure out 3/4 cup crushed pineapple.
- There’s no need for an electric mixer here — just a wooden spoon! In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients;
In a second bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, then add the stir-ins – carrot, coconut, almonds, and pineapple;
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then stir just until the flour is no longer visible.
Fill muffin tins with your preferred scooping device. Ice cream scoops with levers are really useful! - Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C/350°F (all oven types), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Normally, the oven temperature equivalent for fan ovens is 20°C lower, but in this instance, the thick batter requires a greater temperature to rise, thus we use 180°C for fan as well. and Voila! Done — ready to chill and then frost.
How To Make Cream Cheese Frosting?
- Cream the cream cheese and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing basin using an electric handheld mixer, for approximately 1-2 minutes, or until smooth.
- Continue to beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as required.
- When the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost as desired, serve, and enjoy!
Tips And Tricks:
- I recommend grating your carrots in your food processor and then briefly pulsing them in your food processor for fine shreds of carrot. I feel like shredding them leaves too large carrot bits, but don’t overdo it when you pulse or you’ll have carrot juice, which will add far too much carrot taste into your cupcakes!
- If you don’t have a food processor, you may grate your carrots by hand.
- While I did not use them in my carrot cake cupcakes, you may add walnuts, pecans, or raisins (why?!) to this recipe if you want. This batter can handle around 12-1 cup of add-ins.
- This recipe may be easily doubled to yield 24 cupcakes.
Suggestions And Substitutions:
Here are several ingredient replacements that I’ve tried and liked.
- Coconut: You may use either sweetened or unsweetened coconut. Sweetened coconut, on the other hand, adds the greatest moisture for the best outcomes. If you don’t like coconut, leave it out! You may substitute 1 cup of chopped nuts or raisins.
- Coconut Extract: This is completely optional, although it enhances the coconut flavor. If you can’t find it or don’t like coconut, simply leave it out.
- Instead of yogurt, use 1/3 cup sour cream or unsweetened applesauce. Alternatively, substitute 1/2 cup crushed pineapple for the yogurt. They’ll have the flavor of pineapple carrot cake!
- To add even more coconut taste, use melted coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.
- Flour — To make gluten-free cupcakes, use a high-quality 1-to-1 gluten-free baking flour that contains xanthan gum. I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure these cupcakes would taste just as wonderful. Just be prepared for a denser texture.
- Brown Sugar — I use light brown sugar in these cupcakes, but dark brown sugar can be used if that’s all you have on hand. The cupcakes may turn out a little darker.
- Eggs — I haven’t tried it, but you could try replacing the eggs with a flax egg. 1 flax egg for every egg 1 flax egg is made from 1 tbsp ground flax and 2 tbsp. water. Allow it to gel for 10 minutes before using.
How To Make These Cupcakes In Advance?
The frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. I recommend leaving them out on the counter for about an hour before serving to allow them to get to room temperature.
You may also freeze the cupcakes for up to 3 months, then defrost overnight in the refrigerator before icing.
The frosting may also be frozen for up to 3 months; simply defrost overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature, and thoroughly combine before icing the cupcakes.
Can I Substitute Half Of The Recipe?
Yes, you may decrease the recipe in half to create around 7 cupcakes for a smaller quantity. Just make sure each one is only about 3/4 filled. All of the measures should be simple to halve, but here are a handful that aren’t:
2 tablespoons equals half of a quarter cup
2 tablespoons Plus 2 teaspoons = half of a third cup
MORE DELICIOIUS RECIPES HERE:
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Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Carrot Cake Cupcakes - Everyone's favorite Carrot Cake, now available in cupcake form! They're ultra-moist and wonderfully spiced, then topped with fluffy cream cheese icing. These tiny buddies are incredibly tempting, but they're also a piece of cake to create. These are soft, fluffy, and moist!
Ingredients
- 1 can crushed pineapple with juice, drained but RESERVE juice
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, lemon juice, or any clear vinegar
- 2 big eggs at room-temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup canola oil or vegetable
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Stir-Ins:
- 1 1/3 cups shredded carrot, 1 medium peeled carrot
- 2 tbsp. shredded or desiccated coconut
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts or pecans
Frosting With Cream Cheese:
- 180g cream cheese
- 90g unsalted butter softened
- 3 1/2 cups sifted soft icing sugar / powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Decorating:
- 1/4 cup walnuts or pecans finely chopped
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit (all oven types). Cupcake liners should be used to line a 12-hole muffin pan.
Canned pineapple: thoroughly drain the crushed pineapple, saving the liquid. 3/4 cup pineapple and 2 tablespoons pineapple juice
In a large mixing basin, whisk together the dry ingredients.
Wet Whisk Whisk together the milk, vinegar, eggs, sugar, oil, and the 2 tbsp pineapple juice from Step 2 in a separate basin.
Add-ins: In the Wet ingredients bowl, combine carrot, crushed pineapple, coconut, and pecans.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix only until the flour is no longer visible. The batter will be lumpy (because to the stir-ins) and thick, but still runny.
Fill muffin tin with: Divide the batter evenly among the 12 holes. (A 3-tbsp levered ice cream scoop comes in handy here.)
Cook for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting With Cream Cheese:
Cream the butter: Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer (or whisk attachments on a hand mixer), beat the butter for 1 minute, scraping down the sides as required, until creamy.
Cream cheese: Add cream cheese and mix for 1 minute, or until smooth.
Icing sugar: Add 1/3 of the icing sugar, then beat on the lowest speed (to avoid a powdery explosion!) until mostly mixed. Add half of the remaining icing sugar and mix it in, followed by the remaining icing sugar.
Fluff it! 2 minutes on high, until fluffy Add the vanilla extract and salt and mix quickly to combine.
Transfer to a piping bag equipped with a round tip (or zip lock bag with snipper corner). Pipe into cupcakes and top with chopped walnuts or pecans, if preferred.
Notes
If you use as much frosting as seen in the photographs, the cream cheese frosting recipe will adorn 12 cupcakes. If you're only going to spread the frosting over the cupcakes, you can definitely decrease the icing recipe in half.
The frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Cupcakes may be frozen for up to 3 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator and brought to room temperature before icing.
Frosting may be be frozen for up to 3 months; simply defrost overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature, and thoroughly mix before frosting the cupcakes.
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 0Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 0mgCarbohydrates 0gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g
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