The ultimate carrot cake cupcake recipe topped with a sweet, cinnamon cream cheese frosting. From scratch carrot cake cupcakes are hands down a million times better than a box mix. Because we use REAL carrots in these cupcakes!
So yeah…baking from scratch takes a bit more effort and time, but I have a cool timesaver for you guys! It’s a platform called Foodspace. Foodspace allows you to save recipes from anywhere on the web with just a url, or by using their Chrome Extension. All the recipes you save are added to your very own dashboard where you can build shopping lists and order groceries for delivery at any time via Instacart. The grocery delivery feature is great for when you are in a rush!
From there you can create a shopping list from your saved recipes. It’s super awesome for when you are making multiple recipes at one time (like I tend to do). When I made my carrot cake cupcakes, I also made batches of chocolate cupcakes, white cupcakes and buttercream frosting. The shopping list I built with Foodspace made my trip super organized as I only needed to look at one list with all three of my recipes.
Ingredients can even be ordered directly from a recipe profile or shopping list AND delivered via Instacart! You don’t even have to leave the house! What’s not to love about that?!
Ahhhh…technology. How did we ever live without it?! Want to try out my recipes with Foodspace? Just grab the url of any recipe on my blog or download and activate their Chrome Extension on any of my recipe pages. Super easy!
Okay…back to cupcakes! I included pecans in my cupcakes, but you can totally leave them out. These cupcakes are really quick and easy to make and the cream cheese frosting is just as easy to make! You ready to get baking??
Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Print RecipeIngredients
- CARROT CAKE:
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used Rodelle Pure Vanilla Extract)
- 1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used Rodelle)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups finely grated carrots
- 1 cup pecan pieces (optional)
- CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 1 (8-ounce package) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used Rodelle Vanilla Extract)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
PREPARE CUPCAKES: Preheat oven to 350-degrees and line two cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, affixed with the paddle attachment, add the oil and brown sugar. Beat the mixture on medium-high speed until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating each egg into the mixture thoroughly before adding the next egg. Add vanilla extract and sour cream and beat thoroughly into mixture.
With the mixture on low speed, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to the wet ingredients and mix on low only until ingredients are barely incorporated.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the finely grated carrots and pecan pieces by hand to the mixture, gently folding them in. Pour batter into the cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way full with with batter. Bake cupcakes, one tin at a time, in 350-degree oven for 18-minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out without raw batter on it. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
PREPARE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream cheese and beat the cream cheese using the paddle attachment, until smooth and creamy. Add the butter to the cream cheese and beat on medium-high until combined and creamy. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, heavy whipping cream and salt. Once all ingredients are incorporated, beat on medium-high speed for 3-minutes until light and fluffy. You may need to add a little more heavy whipping cream or powdered sugar in order to get your desired consistency.
Frost your cupcakes using your desired method and top with sprinkles or more pecan pieces.
That swirl though….
Decorate your cupcakes with sprinkles or more pecan pieces!! I am all about the sprinkles….duh!
Download the Foodspace app now and add this recipe to your recipe dashboard!
XOXO,
KELLY
5 Comments
Amy
July 27, 2019 at 11:29 AMKelly, these cupcakes look amazing. Carrot cake is one of my favorites and you are so right about making them from scratch. And thank you for the tip about the Foodspace app. I swear that one day soon, I will be able to just think of an ingredient and it will somehow show up in my cupboard and the money for it will be deducted from my account!
Kelly
August 6, 2019 at 6:39 AMHahaha right?! I feel like we are closer and closer to being the Jetsons 🙂
Ashika | Gardening Foodie
July 28, 2019 at 7:47 AMThese carrot cake cupcakes look amazing Kelly…I am absolutely LOVING that cream cheese frosting, looks so yum 🙂
Kelly
August 6, 2019 at 6:40 AMThanks Ashika!! XOXO
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