The Best Carrot Cake Cupcakes

These are the best Carrot Cake Cupcakes! They're fluffy, moist and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom to give them the most delicious flavor. Swirl browned butter cream cheese frosting on top and your tastebuds are in for a real treat! These might just be my favorite dessert!

Why We Love This Carrot Cupcake Recipe

• It's spiced with the most delicious flavors!
• The texture is super moist with a perfect crumb.
• The frosting is made with brown butter making it the best cream cheese frosting! It pairs so well with the cupcake flavor.
• It can be turned into a tasty breakfast with this Carrot Cake French Toast recipe!
• It can also be made into an easy sheet cake with this Spiced Carrot Cake recipe!
• It's a simple, gorgeous dessert for any occasion. I always make them for Easter and they're such a huge hit!

Looking for more delicious cake recipes?

• Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Toasted Meringue Frosting
• Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake
• Banoffee Cupcakes
• Honey Vanilla Cake
• Banana Snack Cake

Ingredients

• Canola oil: Any other neutral oil (like vegetable oil) will also work.
• Sour cream: Use room temperature sour cream to make these cupcakes extra moist!
• Unsweetened applesauce: This recipe only calls for a little bit of smooth applesauce as it helps give these cupcakes a fluffy, moist texture.
• Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom: These spices add delicious flavor to these moist cupcakes, but can be omitted depending on your taste preferences.
• Shredded carrots: Grating fresh carrots is the best option, but you can use pre-shredded carrots as well.
• Unsalted butter: This will be browned to give the frosting a warm, nutty flavor that compliments the carrots and spices perfectly!

See recipe card below for quantities.

Substitutions & Variations

• If you're not a big fan of the spices used in this cupcake recipe, feel free to leave any of them out!
• For a simpler cream cheese frosting, you can use softened butter instead of browned butter.
• This recipe can be made in a 9x5 inch loaf pan (see this carrot loaf recipe) or doubled and made in a 9x13 inch pan (see this carrot cake recipe).

This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!

Equipment

This carrot cake cupcake recipe is so easy, you'll just need some basic tools!

• A scale to measure ingredients in grams
• A grater to shred the carrots
• One or two cupcake pans with cupcake liners
• A sifter or fine mesh sieve
• A piping bag with tip
• A hand mixer will help with the frosting

Step by Step Instructions

Step One (Picture 1 above) - In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars and oil. Mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and applesauce.

Step Two (Picture 2 above) - In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and all 5 spices. Sift and fold them into the wet ingredients just until a few flour streaks remain.

Step Three (Picture 3 above) - Add the grated carrots to the cupcake batter and gently fold them in.

Step Four (Picture 4 above) - Use a large scoop to fill cupcake liners about ⅔ full with the carrot cake batter. There should be enough for about 18 cupcakes! Bake them at 350°F/177°C on the middle oven rack until a toothpick comes out clean (about 20 minutes). Let them cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Step Five (Picture 5 above) - While the cupcakes are cooling, whip up the homemade cream cheese frosting! Brown the butter in a pan over medium/low heat until it gives off a nutty aroma. Pour it into a heat-proof bowl and let it cool to room temperature (this can be sped up by placing it in the refrigerator).

Step Six (Picture 6 above) - Mix the cream cheese in a medium bowl until it's smooth and then stir in the cooled browned butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar. 

Step Seven (Picture 7 above) - Transfer the browned butter cream cheese frosting to a piping bag with a large piping tip and swirl it onto the cooled cupcakes! If you don't have a piping bag, you can simply cut off the tip of a plastic bag.

Expert Tips

Tip #1 - Weigh your dry ingredients in grams. Measuring flour with a scale will give you the best results since it can be tricky to accurately measure with cups. See the "metric" tab in the recipe card below for gram measurements. If you decide to use measuring cups, be sure to scoop the flour into the cup and level it off with a straightedge.

Tip #2 - Let the cupcakes cool before frosting. If you frost them while they're still even a tiny bit warm, the frosting can melt and slide off of the cupcakes!

Tip #3 - Get creative! These cupcakes are beautiful sponges with speckled frosting and can be decorated however you want! I like to use wavy cupcake liners to give them a fun shape and then frost them upside down with a large closed-star piping tip. If you're making them for Easter, you could dye some of the frosting orange and add little carrot designs on them. The options are endless!

Recipe FAQs

Storage

Room Temperature: Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Refrigerator: Frosted cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Let them sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before enjoying!

Freezing Instructions: Tightly wrap unfrosted, cooled cupcakes in plastic wrap and/or a freezer-safe bag labeled "Carrot Cake Cupcakes" and the date for up to 1 month. Let them thaw at room temperature before frosting and eating them.

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