Super moist carrot cupcakes with deliciously smooth cream cheese frosting. These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are perfect for people that prefer their cake without nuts and raisins – and for everyone else too!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes – without nuts and raisins
For years I thought I didn’t like carrot cake. That was because traditionally carrot cake has walnuts in the cake as well as often being decorated with additional walnuts.
I am not a fan of walnuts in general, but I’m also not a big fan of chunks of nuts in baking. I much prefer nuts to be ground and incorporated into the cake batter like my Pistachio Cake.
Raisins are also commonly found in carrot cake. Although I do like raisins, I know a lot of people really don’t. So I decided to leave them out too in an attempt to make Carrot Cake Cupcakes that would appeal to the most people.
I know some carrot cake purists may think this is awful and all carrot cakes should have walnuts and raisins. But everyone that I know that has tried them hasn’t missed the nuts or raisins at all.

Recommended way to grate the carrots
I know grating carrots sounds like a pretty straightforward task, but it does matter!
You need to use a coarse grater because you want to be able to see the strands of carrot. If you use a small grater then you might end up with carrot mush which will be wetter.
My preferred method of grating the carrots is to use a food processor with a coarse grater attachment. If you have one, this is definitely the quickest and easiest way. It also provides the best texture in my opinion.
I always weigh the carrots once they are grated. This is because inevitably when you are grating them the ends will become too small to grate.

Which oil is best to use for carrot cake cupcakes?
When using oil in cakes, you need to use a plain flavourless oil.
I recommend using a sunflower, vegetable or canola oil as these don’t have any strong flavours.
You wouldn’t want to use something like olive oil as the flavour is too strong and would affect the flavour of the cake.
Using oil instead of butter keeps these carrot cupcakes incredibly moist and light.

Can reduced fat cream cheese be used?
Being honest, no it really won’t be the same.
You definitely need to use full fat cream cheese frosting. Reduced fat cream cheese would be too thin because it doesn’t have the fat content needed to hold it’s shape.
If you were to use reduced fat cream cheese, the frosting is likely to not hold it’s shape and potentially run. It is very unlikely that you would be able to pipe it at all.

how to decorate the cupcakes
My top tip for making cream cheese frosting is to make sure your butter is at room temperature. The butter needs to be nice and soft so that it incorporates with the cream cheese and icing sugar without leaving any lumps.
I also like to beat it by itself before adding the other ingredients to make it as smooth as possible. If you use butter that isn’t soft enough you run the risk of having small lumps of butter in your finished frosting.
Cream cheese frosting tends to be a little less firm than other frostings such as buttercream. This is why I use a very simple large round nozzle to pipe it onto the cupcakes.
If you use more intricate nozzles there is the risk the cream cheese won’t hold the definition and the frosting can end up looking a bit messy.
It is up to you whether you would like to leave the cupcakes as they are, or whether you want to add any sprinkles.

How many cupcakes does this recipe make?
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes using muffin cases.
When I originally published the recipe, the quantities were different and it made 18 cupcakes. If you would still prefer to make this number of cupcakes, use the quantities in my Carrot Cake recipe.
Twelve cupcakes is the more typical number of cupcakes people look for which is why I have adapted the recipe.

How long do Carrot Cake Cupcakes keep for?
As the cupcakes are oil based, they stay moist and delicious for longer than a standard sponge cupcake.
These will keep in the fridge for up to five days. They do need to be kept in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting.
You can bring them up to room temperature before you eat them, but I wouldn’t leave them out of the fridge for more than an hour.
If you want the cupcakes to keep for longer, I would recommend freezing them. Wrap the cupcakes thoroughly unfrosted. When you want to eat them, leave them to defrost at room temperature for a few hours.

how to make these cupcakes gluten free or dairy free
Although I don’t make a huge amount of gluten free bakes, I do have a gluten free carrot cake recipe. It has been sampled many times by my chief gluten free taste tester, my friend Zoe.
To make these cupcakes gluten free, use the recipe for my Gluten Free Carrot Sheet Cake but the quantities in this recipe for the frosting.
As the cupcakes use oil instead of butter they are dairy free. It is worth noting that they are not vegan because they include eggs.
For the frosting you would need to swap the cream cheese and butter for dairy free alternatives. I would recommend using a block of dairy free butter rather than margarine.

Other recipes you might like
- Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
- Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pistachio Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
- Blackberry Crumble Loaf Cake
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Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Super moist carrot cupcakes with deliciously smooth cream cheese frosting. These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are perfect for people that prefer their cake without nuts and raisins – and for everyone else too!
Ingredients
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 100 g dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 200 ml sunflower oil
- 200 g plain flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon heaped
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g carrot grated
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 50 g unsalted butter softened
- 135 g cream cheese full fat
- 300 g icing sugar
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 170ºC (fan assisted, 190ºC non fan). Line cupcake tins with muffin cases
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Mix together 100g light brown sugar, 100g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 200ml sunflower oil and ¼ tsp vanilla extract in a large jug
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In another bowl, mix 200g plain flour, ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ¾ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon and ¼ tsp salt together
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Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined
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Add 200g grated carrot and mix
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Fill each cupcake case two-thirds full. and bake for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack
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Once completely cool, make the frosting. Beat 50g unsalted butter until smooth
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Add 135g cream cheese and 300g icing sugar and mix until completely combined and smooth
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Spoon the frosting into a piping bag and decorate each cupcake. Add any sprinkles or decorations you want
Recipe Notes
Break up any lumps that may have formed in the sugar before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Store cupcakes in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutritional information is given as a guide only and may vary.
Daniel Mason says
best carrot cupcakes ever
Curly says
Thanks Dan!
kat says
These have to be my favourite of Curlys Cakes. I think the record is a whole batch all gone by 0910 at work and we start at 9. They are delicious 🙂
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
I never say no to carrot cake and I love your cupcake version of my favourite! They look absolutely gorgeous and I love your super neat dollops of frosting, it’s like little clouds sitting on top of the cupcakes 🙂 Delicious! x
Curly says
Haha thank you Jo x
Jenny Paulin says
ooooh yum! my boys adore carrot cake and your cupcakes look delicious. thank you for sharing with #Bakeoftheweek x
Curly says
Thanks Jenny 🙂 x
jenny walters says
I could eat a bowl of cream cheese icing in one sitting and coupled with carrot cake there is NO better cake combo out there.Serious bloody YUM!These cup cakes look beautiful too.Thanks for sharing #CookBlogShare
Curly says
Haha thanks Jenny.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
Not sure if this comment will show up twice as the comment box crashed! Anyway I love carrot cake, and I love cream cheese frosting even more, plus you’ve decorated the cupcakes so prettily.
Curly says
Oh no! No, only the once 🙂 Thank you Kat.
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says
Got to love Carrot Cake… And cupcakes are the perfect size (although I could happily eat a whole batch). The cream cheese frosting looks divine. xx
Curly says
Thank you Kate!
Lesley says
What a beautifully simple recipe and no raisins too – which I think ruin a good carrot cake.
Curly says
Haha pleased you like the lack of raisins Lesley!
Janice says
Your cupcakes always come out so well and carrot cake is one of my favourite cake flavours. I think these will be perfect for the Easter Bunny 😉
Curly says
Thank you Janice!
Sisley White says
Love to see a carrot cake without nuts and raisins! Can’t wait to make this
Curly says
Thanks Sisley! I like raisins but I don’t want them in my carrot cake!
ELAINE says
I don’t like carrot cake but I love these!! The only carrot cake I will eat as no nuts and no overpowering cinnamon. Delicious. Try you’ll be addicted!
Curly says
Thank you! Nuts aren’t needed I think – much nicer without!
Lucy says
Do you have ounce-pound-cups etc. version with Farenheit instead of Celsius for we Americans?
Curly says
Hi Lucy, no I don’t I’m afraid. All of my recipes are in metric because this is what I have always done. To convert you can use something like this – https://charlotteslivelykitchen.com/grams-to-cups-conversions/.
Emily says
One of the best recipes I’ve ever used!! So simple, delicious and moist
Personally I use about half the sugar in the recipe because I just generally prefer less sweet things but either way, it’s amazing ❤️