Carrot Cake Cupcakes put all of the amazing flavors and textures of a classic carrot cake into one yummy handheld bite!
Made with freshly shredded carrots and packed with goodies like nuts and raisins, these cupcakes are everything a perfect carrot cake should be!
Top them with whipped cream or cream cheese frosting for a dessert nobody will be able to resist!
This delicious Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe is sponsored by Walmart and SheKnows Media.
Carrot Cake is one of those desserts I’m known for and it’s something I’m always asked to bring along to gatherings.
On occasion I’ve been served a carrot cake that’s more like spice cake with a few carrots in it, that’s not how I like my carrot cake.
Loaded with Flavor
I love a carrot cake to be super moist and tender while being loaded with all kinds of textures and flavors. I feel like as far as a cake goes, carrot cake is one that has so much goodness in it! Carrots and crushed pineapple add tons of moisture and of course nuts for flavor and a bit of crunch and even raisins for great texture.
Even More Goodness
To add even more goodness to these from scratch carrot cake cupcakes, I have replaced my usual vegetable oil in the batter with Great Value Organic Coconut Oil! Walmart’s line of Great Value Organic products are the perfect addition to this recipe and best of all they’re budget-friendly. I’ve included organic milk, coconut oil, ginger, and cinnamon in this recipe.
The Perfect Flavor
Carrot cake is made very similarly to any other spiced cake, but it has a few more ingredients. The carrots and pineapple add amazing flavor into the cake while helping to keep it nice and moist!
Warm spices like ginger and cinnamon really add the perfect flavor to these carrot cake cupcakes!
This recipe uses soured milk by adding a little bit of apple cider vinegar to the milk before mixing. The acidity adds great flavor but most importantly makes these carrot cupcakes rise better and creates a perfectly tender crumb. It’ll look a bit thick/curdled when you use it which is what you want (I use this same soured milk in my well loved Banana Cake recipe).
Don’t Over Bake Your Carrot Cupcakes
As with most cupcakes, it’s important not to overbake these carrot cake cupcakes. You can check if they are done by inserting a toothpick into the center of them, if it comes out clean, that means they are done!
These babies are so moist, you really don’t even need frosting but I mean, cupcakes… so we always top them with our fave Cream Cheese Frosting (or even just freshly whipped cream). I use a piping tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, but a freezer bag with a corner cut out works just as well!
More Great Cake Recipes
- The Best Carrot Cake – truly the very best!
- Zucchini Cake – so incredibly moist!
- Easy Apple Cake Recipe – with a cream cheese filling. So good!
- Flag Cake with Cheesecake Topping – Perfect for summer parties!
- Banana Pudding Cake – Easy recipe!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil room temperature
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups carrots grated
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
- 8 ounces crushed pineapple 1 can, drained
- 1 cup raisins or coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with liners.
- Place the apple cider vinegar in a ¾ cup measuring cup. Fill the remaining space in the cup with milk. Stir and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger in a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine sugar, coconut oil, & eggs until smooth. Stir in apple sauce, vanilla, and soured milk.
- Add flour mixture stirring just until combined.
- Stir in carrots, walnuts, pineapple and raisins. Do not over mix.
- Fill each muffin cup ⅔ full and bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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My family doesn’t like pineapple how would I adjust the recipe leave it out? Thank you.
Hi Marilyn, we haven’t tried this recipe without pineapple so I am not sure how it will turn out. The pineapple does add a lot of moisture and flavor. We would love to hear how it turns out for you though!
OMG! Thank you for the great recipe… so good! So very moist! I added Allspice & dash of nutmeg- The coconut oil & soured milk makes them very tasty. Shredded way too many carrots in processor, lol- but I threw them in & still awesome! I’m always tweaking dessert recipes for lower sugar/ GI effect- so trading out sugar for Truvia Baking Blend worked great too.. Thank you for sharing!
We are so happy you loved this recipe, Shelly!
I was craving a moist and flavorful carrot cake. This is not the recipe! I was disappointed because I follow step by step the recipe and the final result was a bland cupcake!! Texture was more like a banana bread. They are good but did not taste like carrot cake. My husband said that it needed more sugar, spices and probably more fat. I sent some to my neighbor and her comment was ” They taste pretty healthy” I’m still searching and hoping to find the perfect carrot cake recipe!
So sorry to hear that Marlene! We loved these cupcakes as written, you could try this carrot cake recipe and make it into cupcakes if you prefer!
Excellent recipe! Only change I made was I used half butter and half coconut oil and used chunk pineapple cut up a little smaller as I like to bite into pineapple : )
Frosting recipe was SO perfect with the lemon!!
Thank you!!
Can’t wait to try these!! If I were to make these as MINI cupcakes, how should I adjust the cooking time? Thanks!
Mini cupcakes usually need about 15-18 minutes at 350°F. Let us know how it goes!
How much oil should be used instead of coconut oil?
Oil and coconut oil are generally subbed 1/1 ratio.
Can you use melted butter instead
I haven’t tried it but other readers have with great success. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out Natalie!
These look amazing. Have been looking for a good carrot cake/ muffin recipe. I’m always amazed how you bake using cups, us Europeans would be lost without the weighing scales. Will try converting measurements with google and fingers crossed they come out as good as yours.
Let us know how they turn out Roisin!
Do you have a recipe for the cream cheese frosting?
Here is the cream cheese frosting. Enjoy, Debbie!
Delicious I’m going to make it for Mother’s Day nice dessert with coffee and tea
A lovely treat for Mother’s day!
If you don’t have coconut oil what can you replace it with
I think it would work fine with cooking oil. Please let us know how it goes if you try it!
Great tip about adding the apple cider vinegar to the milk before mixing. Apple cider vinegar is really good for weight loss, as it makes you feel more “full.” It also helps lower cholesterol, and helps prevent acid reflux. (who knew?) thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome Missy! Enjoy