A small batch of carrot cake cupcakes made completely from scratch with grated carrots and topped with a rich cream cheese frosting. Extra moist and easy to make!
If you've got 1 or 2 medium-sized carrots, you've enough to make a small batch of the best carrot cake cupcakes!
A while ago, we shared our absolute favorite recipe for a mini carrot cake. Since then, many of you have told us how much you love this single serving cake and would love to have a recipe for a small batch of carrot cake cupcakes. We modified our carrot cake recipe and came up with this fabulous cupcake recipe that features carrot cake cupcakes with a perfectly spiced flavor, a super moist crumb, and a velvety cream cheese frosting. If you love carrot cake, you will absolutely love these cupcakes!
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
- The tastiest way to incorporate vegetables into a sweet treat: Carrots are an excellent source of fiber, potassium, beta carotene, and vitamin K1 and there's no shortage of carrots in this classic carrot cupcake recipe. The cupcakes are filled with chopped nuts and they're generously spiced with cinnamon. We use chopped pecans, but walnuts add a nice crunch too. Not a nut fan? Leave them out.
- Grated carrots guarantee moist cupcakes: The key to moist, carrot-filled cupcakes is grating the carrots yourself. Using a food processor or a box grater, the grated carrots retain lots of moisture, which means they become tender in the oven and add lots of flavor.
- Perfect for add-ins: We like to add chopped pecans or walnuts to our carrot cake cupcakes but you certainly don't have to. If you're a fan of carrot cake with fruit, stir in some raisins.
- A small batch carrot cake cupcakes recipe: This recipe yields 5 or 6 cupcakes. The recipe doubles well if you'd like to make more.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
See below for ways to use leftover ingredients.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar helps to make the cupcakes light, delicious, and moist.
- Butter: I use salted butter which produces super moist carrot cake cupcakes. Although many recipes call for using unsalted butter in baked goods such as cookies and cakes. I almost always use salted butter in my baking. Using unsalted butter is often recommended so that the baker can have more control over the total amount of salt used in a recipe. Since the recipes I create and share are small batch and single serving recipes and we aren't using a whole lot of butter, whether or not you use salted or unsalted butter won't make much of a difference in our recipes. Use what you have or what you prefer. If you are on a low-sodium diet, by all means, use unsalted butter.
- Egg: One large egg adds moisture and creates structure to the cupcakes.
- Vanilla extract: A small amount of vanilla extract adds tremendous flavor to the cupcakes.
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour. To make gluten-free carrot cake cupcakes, I recommend using King Arthur Gluten Free Measure For Measure Flour.
- Baking powder: This ingredient helps the cupcakes rise.
- Ground cinnamon and salt: These two ingredients are essential for great flavor. I'm keeping our cupcake recipe simple by only using cinnamon. Feel free to add ground nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. You can add small amounts of each spice or add a small amount of one or two of the spices if you'd like.
- Milk: I use whole milk but you can use 2% instead. Milk makes the cupcakes taste like bakery cake!
- Carrots: This small batch carrot cake cupcake recipe calls for using ½ cup (53 grams) of grated carrots. I like to use a mini food processor to grate my carrots but you can use a box grater instead, or purchase pre-grated carrots from the supermarket.
- Pecans: Optional, but recommended. I love nuts in carrot cake but you can leave them out if you want. Feel free to use chopped walnuts, if preferred. You might also like to add a few tablespoons of raisins too.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese: Use block-style full-fat cream cheese.
- Butter: I recommend using softened salted butter. Softened butter should still be cool to the touch but when you press your finger into the butter, your finger will leave an indentation.
- Powdered sugar: The finer sugar particles make powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar) perfect for creating a frosting that has a perfectly smooth consistency.
- Vanilla extract: For flavor
How To Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F (177°C). Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners or lightly coat the insides with oil spray. This recipe yields 5 to 6 carrot cake cupcakes.
- Make the cupcakes: In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until well mixed, about 45 seconds.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until combined.
Pro Tip: The secret to fluffy cupcakes is to make sure you don't overmix the batter. To bake fluffy, moist cupcakes you need to create air bubbles in the batter that expand in the oven. If you overmix the batter, you collapse those bubbles and end up with dense cupcakes. Stop mixing just as all ingredients blend.
- Add the milk and mix well.
- Fold in the grated carrots and chopped pecans.
Pro Tip: Although you can buy a bag of pre-shredded carrots at the grocery store, I prefer taking a few extra minutes to peel and grate the whole carrots yourself. Freshly grated carrots have more moisture which will lead to extra moist cupcakes. Grab a box grater or use a small food processor and grate the carrots yourself.
- Pour or spoon the batter into the liners, filling only about ⅔ full to avoid spilling over the sides. Bake for about 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the frosting: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese and softened butter. Whip until well combined and smooth.
Pro Tip: The easiest and best way to soften cream cheese and butter is to simply allow them to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth and well combined.
Pro Tip: Although cream cheese frosting is often considered to be the best frosting for carrot cake, we also like to use buttercream frosting.
- Spread over the top of the cooled cupcakes.
Expert Tips
- Read through the entire recipe before beginning. These carrot cake cupcakes come together quickly. Be sure to read through the recipe and the Ingredient Notes and gather your ingredients before starting.
- Be sure to use melted butter in this small batch cupcake recipe and softened butter in the frosting. You can easily soften butter by taking it out of the refrigerator and placing it on your kitchen counter for a half-hour before you want to use it.
- Measure the flour correctly: To measure flour correctly, use a spoon to scoop flour into a measuring cup made for dry ingredients and slightly overfill it. Then, use the back of a knife or other straight-edged utensil to level the flour across the cup. Do not scoop the flour. When you scoop, the flour gets packed too tightly and you will end up with more flour than the recipe calls for.
- You can grate the carrots ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to make the cupcakes.
- Feel free to use chopped walnuts instead of pecans or add a handful of raisins to your batter.
- Some people love chopped pineapples in their carrot cake cupcakes. If you do too, consider adding about a tablespoon or two of canned crushed pineapples. Keep in mind that pineapples will add moisture to the cupcakes, so be sure to drain the pineapple before adding it in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. If you'd like to make more cupcakes, double the ingredient amounts.
Excellent idea! Chopped walnuts or pecans would be delicious!
Yes! The batter is the same for a carrot cake and cupcakes. Divide the batter into 2 lightly buttered 10-ounce ramekins that measure 4 inches in diameter and are approximately 1 ¾-inches tall.
You can also use a 4x6-inch baking dish or a 5x5-inch baking dish.
These baking dishes can be viewed on our Store page.
If you would like additional information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page.
Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions
- Can Carrot Cake Cupcakes Be Made Ahead? Absolutely! Plain cupcakes can be made ahead 1 day in advance. Cover the cupcakes and store them at room temperature or in the refrigerator. The frosting can also be made 1 day in advance, covered, and stored in the refrigerator. If the frosting is thick or stiff after refrigerating, beat it with your mixer for 20-30 seconds to help loosen it before frosting.
- Can Carrot Cake Cupcakes Be Frozen? Yes. I recommend freezing cupcakes unfrosted. They can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and frost if desired.
How To Decorate Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Recently, my frosting tool from Pampered Chef broke so I used a simple ziptop bag to make a frosting bag.
Here's how to make a homemade frosting bag:
- Spoon the frosting into a resealable ziptop bag, like Ziploc brand.
- Twist the top of the bag to push the frosting into one of the lower corners of the bag.
- With scissors, cut about a ½-inch hole in one of the corners of the bag.
- Squeeze the bag with the palm of your hand and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
You can see how I use a ziplock bag to add batter to a donut pan as we did in our apple cider donuts recipe. This is exactly how I decorate carrot cake cupcakes without a piping bag or frosting tool. The frosting comes out easily.
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this small batch carrot cake cupcakes recipe, you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes.
- Carrots: Carrot Soufflé, Chicken Tortellini Soup, Roasted Carrots, Lentil Stew, Chicken Stew, Coq au Vin
- Eggs: Mini Pecan Pie, Bacon, Egg and Cheese Cup, Pasta Carbonara, Sweet Potato Pie
- Vanilla: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Banana Pudding, Boston Cream Pie, Coffee Cake, Flan, Sugar Cookies
- Cinnamon: Snickerdoodles, Fried Apples, Mini Cherry Pie, Ham Steak, Apple Galette, Cranberry Jam
- Pecans: Apple Muffin, Butter Pecan Granola, Breakfast Bread Pudding, Mini Hummingbird Cake, Pralines, Chicken Salad
- Milk: Corn Casserole, Mini Spice Cake, Strawberry Milkshake, Mashed Potatoes, Biscuit with Sausage Gravy, Paneer
- Cream cheese: Creamed Spinach, Icebox Cake, Hot Spinach Dip, Smoked Salmon Platter, Spinach Turkey Wrap, Peanut Butter Pie
- Powdered sugar: Peanut Butter Fudge, Mini Texas Sheet Cake, Two Chocolate Cupcakes, Apple Fritters, Triple Chocolate Scones, Red Velvet Donuts
For more information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page.
If you’ve tried these carrot cake cupcakes or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.
Also, if you take a picture please tag us on Instagram (@onedishkitchen) we’d love to see it!
Recipe
Small Batch Carrot Cake Cupcakes
See the post above for expert tips,
FAQs and ways to use leftover ingredients.
Equipment
- box grater or food processor
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter , melted (½ stick/56 g)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ cup grated carrots
- 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
For the frosting
- 2 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup sifted powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F (177°C). Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners or lightly coat the insides with oil spray. This recipe yields 5 to 6 carrot cake cupcakes.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until well mixed, about 45 seconds.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until combined.
- Add the milk and mix well.
- Fold in the grated carrots and chopped pecans.
- Pour or spoon the batter into the cupcake holders, filling only about ⅔ full to avoid spilling over the sides. Bake for about 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cupcake pan from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
Make the frosting
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese and softened butter. Whip until well combined and smooth.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth and well combined.
- Spread over the top of the cooled cupcakes.
Notes
- Read through the entire recipe before beginning. These easy carrot cake cupcakes come together quickly. Be sure to read through the recipe and the Ingredient Notes and gather your ingredients before starting.
- Be sure to use melted butter in this small batch cupcake recipe and softened butter in the frosting. You can easily soften butter by taking it out of the refrigerator and placing it on your kitchen counter for a half-hour before you want to use it.
- Measure the flour correctly: To measure flour correctly, use a spoon to scoop flour into a measuring cup made for dry ingredients and slightly overfill it. Then, use the back of a knife or other straight-edged utensil to level the flour across the cup. Do not scoop the flour. When you scoop, the flour gets packed too tightly and you will end up with more flour than the recipe calls for.
- The secret to fluffy cupcakes is to make sure you don't overmix the batter. To bake fluffy, moist cupcakes you need to create air bubbles in the batter that expand in the oven. If you overmix the batter, you collapse those bubbles and end up with dense cupcakes. Stop mixing just as all ingredients blend.
- You can grate the carrots ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to make the cupcakes.
- Feel free to use chopped walnuts instead of pecans or add a handful of raisins to your batter.
- Some people love chopped pineapples in their carrot cake cupcakes. If you do too, consider adding about a tablespoon or two of canned crushed pineapples. Keep in mind that pineapples will add moisture to the cupcakes, so be sure to drain the pineapple before adding it in.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
J. Hegyi says
Great recipe.