Carrot Cupcakes with Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

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Carrot cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting are the perfect Easter dessert! Made with real grated carrots, these soft and fluffy cupcakes are topped with a yummy made from scratch cream cheese icing.

Lately my kids have been really getting into carrots. We started growing them in our garden this past year, and between that and the magic of Santa’s reindeer loving them, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that they’ve been wanting to eat them (and praying it stays that way).

I’m usually a pretty firm box cake/cupcake person, but one dessert that always tastes so much better made from scratch are carrot cupcakes. Plus, making them from scratch also means I can sneakily get more of the needed daily serving of vegetables into my kids, too.

While these carrot cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting are good any time of the year, they’re an especially great addition for your Easter table. They scream sunshine and spring to me!

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Ingredients Needed for Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

To make these yummy cupcakes, you’ll need a few simple ingredients that should all be available at your local grocery store. You can scroll to the end of this post for the full printable recipe card with all of the measurements you need.

To make the cupcakes, you’ll need:

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Ground cinnamon
• Vegetable oil
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract
• Grated carrots
• Optional: Chopped walnuts, pecans or raisins

To make the homemade cream cheese frosting, you’ll need:

• Cream cheese
• Unsalted butter,
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla extract

You’ll also need mixing bowls, cupcake pans, cupcake liners (I own and love these reusable, silicone ones!) and a stand mixer or hand mixer like this.

How to Make Carrot Cupcakes with Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a cupcake tin with paper liners or reusable silicone cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and slightly creamy.

Gradually add the dry flour mixture to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.

Fold in the grated carrots until evenly distributed in the batter. If you’d like, this is the time to also add some chopped nuts if you want them in your cupcakes.

Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full of the batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Once baked, remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Make sure the cupcakes are totally cooled before frosting.

To make the cream cheese frosting, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl until creamy and well combined.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, use a piping bag like this or an offset spatula to generously frost each cupcake with the cream cheese frosting. You can also cut the end off the corner of a freezer bag to make your own piping bag!

If desired, sprinkle chopped nuts or raisins on top of the icing to decorate your carrot cupcakes, and enjoy!

You might enjoy these other desserts:

Peeps Easter Rice Krispie Treats

Easy Pineapple Dump Cake (Just 3 Ingredients!)

17 No Bake St. Patrick’s Day Treats

Tips for the Best Carrot Cupcakes

I use vegetable oil in this recipe instead of butter as I’ve found that they make my cupcakes more moist (and yes, I hate that word too) and delicious.

Ideally, you want to have finely shredded carrots for this recipe. The best way I’ve found to achieve this is by using a food processor. Use the grate setting first, and then briefly pulse them to make the grated shreds finer. Don’t overdo it with the pulse setting! It’s surprisingly easy to accidentally turn your carrot shreds to juice (I learned this the hard way).

You can also use a hand grater like this to grate your carrots if you don’t have a food processor.

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