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Carrot cake is not a universally beloved flavor, but I love the stuff! A good carrot cake is moist, tender, and has the perfect balance of spices. To celebrate the warmer weather, I decided to whip up a small batch of carrot cake cupcakes. Because, sometimes, you don’t want to be knee deep in a massive cake.

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Carrot Cake Controversy

Here’s the thing with carrot cake, there is no “standard” recipe. For some people, carrot cake must have raisins, for others pineapple, and still others require walnuts. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! What’s your perfect carrot cake mix up?

For this small batch carrot cake cupcake recipe, I decided to go back to basics. Well, when I say I decided, I mean it was my husband’s idea. One thing all carrot cake lovers can agree on is cream cheese frosting. So we’re doing no crazy mix-ins, plus the best buttercream ever.

Easy Peasy Carrot Squeezy

There will be no squeezing in this recipe, to be clear. I just figured, why throw the word “lemon” around all willy nilly. This recipe is basically a paired down version of my carrot cake, so check that out for a full size version.

Besides the flavor, my favorite thing about this recipe is how friggin’ easy it is. Combine your wet ingredients. Combine your dry ingredients. Mix them together and fold in shredded carrots. Portion and bake! Like, why are these so easy?

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Top Tips for Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cupcakes a nice texture.
Do NOT over mix. Once you add the wet and dry ingredients, only mix to combine.
Place some dried rice (½ – 1 teaspoon) in the bottom of each cupcake cavity before adding your paper cases.
Use a large cookie scoop to perfectly portion your cupcake batter.
Shred carrots super quickly in a food processor with the shred blade, if you have one.

Cream Cheese Frosting

This stuff is crazy good and pairs perfectly with the flavors in the carrot cake cupcakes. Now, you may notice that mine is a bit dark in color. Ya girl here was a little too heavy handed with the vanilla. Want a paler frosting? Use less vanilla or a clear vanilla. For the colorful piping, I just used a traditional American buttercream since that is easier to pipe with.

The most important thing to remember when making cream cheese frosting is not to over mix. That can cause the cream cheese to split, resulting in a soupy mess. If your frosting is too loose (and this isn’t a super stiff one to begin with), don’t add extra powdered sugar. Instead, I would beat in a bit of softened butter. If you know your frosting is just too warm, chill for a few minutes, then beat.

Buttercream Pointillism… On Cupcakes!

A few weeks ago, I finally got to try my hand at buttercream pointillism. I decorated this mini cake and loved the result. It’s such an easy technique, so I just had to see if I could make this work with cupcakes.

With that, I present my tutorial for buttercream pointillism on a cupcake! I’ll show you how to get perfectly flat tops on your cupcakes in order to get a nice work area. This technique even worked with cream cheese buttercream, which is notoriously soft.

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Make It Yours

I’m fully aware how I railed on about this being a simple, back to basics type of carrot cake cupcake recipe, but I feel like I should add something. Feel free to take this recipe and make it your own. You can add raisins, walnuts, or pecans so easily. However, pineapple is a whole ‘nother beast.

And if cream cheese frosting is a problem, you have options! Try faux cream cheese frosting or maybe a vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. Hell, go crazy and whip up a coconut buttercream. Something tells me that would be fab.

Enjoy!

Dear, sweet reader, thank you so much for perusing through this fun recipe for small batch carrot cupcakes. I’d love to hear what you thought, so drop a comment below! And if you’ve actually taste tested this doozy, don’t forget to rate the recipe.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

A small batch recipe for soft, spiced carrot cake cupcakes with a tangy cream cheese frosting

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Birthday, Cream Cheese, Cupcakes, Frosting, Holiday

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 22

Total Time 1 22

Servings 10 cupcakes

Calories 354kcal

Author Colleen

Ingredients

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

110 g sugar
2 fl oz canola oil
1 eggs room temperature
2 oz sour cream room temperature
2.5 Tbsps unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
100 g all- purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
Pinch of ginger
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
5 oz shredded carrots

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz unsalted butter softened
8 oz cream cheese soft, but still cool
18 oz powdered sugar sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with paper cases.
In a large bowl, beat sugar, canola oil, eggs, sour cream, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Some specks of flour are fine. Add the carrots. Gently fold until combined.
Use a scoop to evenly portion out your batter. You will have enough to make 10 cupcakes. Bake for 20- 22 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when poked and a skewer comes out clean.
Cool in the pans for 5- 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and light, about 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl down and add the cream cheese. Beat until combined and light, another 4 minutes.
Add about one third of the powdered sugar. Beat for 1- 2 minutes, starting on low and bumping up to medium. Add another third of the sugar. Beat for another minute. Add the remaining powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat for a minute or two until combined and fluffy.

Assembly

Pipe cream cheese frosting onto the cupcakes once cooled. Cream cheese frosting should only be at room termperature for 4 hours or less. Place cupcakes in the firdge if you will not be serving within that time frame. You will have extra frosting.

Notes

There is enough frosting for roughly 16 cupcakes, more or less.

Small Batch Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Carrot Cake Controversy