I mean who doesn’t love carrot cake? Especially with a cream cheese frosting on top? And now imagine that where you get to have a WHOLE (cup)cake to yourself! Yep, it’s time for a Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe!
These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are based on my Ultimate Spiced Carrot Cake recipe! My family loves this Carrot Cake Traybake that contains mashed bananas, but I much prefer this spiced version! The cupcakes are really easy to make as the recipe follows the all-in-one method (read more about the different cake making methods here) and the cream cheese icing is soooo good I could eat a whole bowl of it just on its own!
What ingredients will you need to make these Carrot Cake Cupcakes?
Apart from the basic cake ingredients such as flour, eggs, fat (in this case sunflower oil) and sugar, this recipe calls for a few additional ingredients to add that certain je-ne-sais-quoi to your cupcakes and also the icing.
The cake itself is spiced with ground cinnamon and mixed spice, and packed with additional flavour by adding raisins and walnuts to the mix. If you are not a fan of raisins or walnuts, feel free to swap these for other nuts or omit them completely.
The cream cheese buttercream is slightly different to your usual one, as besides cream cheese it also has some quark added to it. Quark is a German dairy product that is similar in texture to cream cheese, but just adds a bit more “lightness” to this icing. You can find it in most UK supermarkets now (e.g. ASDA, Morrisons, Lidl) and I use it a lot in my other cheesecake recipes, e.g. this German Baked Cheesecake, Chocolate Cheesecake (Russischer Zupfkuchen) or my Lighter No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake. If you would like, you can also flavour the icing with some grated orange zest rather than vanilla for a different flavour twist.
More Cupcake Recipes
Cupcakes are so much fun, and recipes like this one for Carrot Cake Cupcakes are an absolute gem to have in your repertoire and whisk up when you are in a hurry. If you want a little bit of extra inspiration, why no check out some of my other cupcake recipes linked below?
- How to make the Perfect Cupcake | Baking Skills and Techniques
- Easy Vanilla Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes for Easter
- Easy Lemon Fairy Cakes
- Lemony Lemon Cupcakes
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE CARROT CAKE BATTER:
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 140ml vegetable oil
- 200g light brown sugar
- 250g carrots, grated
- 100g raisins
- 100g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 180g self-raising flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 150g butter, softened
- 100g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150g full-fat cream cheese
- 125g quark
TO FINISH:
- Edible flowers (optional, I ordered mine from Polly’s Petals UK)
- Sprinkles (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Then prepare a muffin tray by adding a cupcake case into each hole.
- Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and add in the walnuts and raisins. Toss them in the flour until coated to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake when its baking.
- Add in all the remaining cake ingredients to the bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are well combined. The mixture is fairly wet – so don´t worry!
- Equally divide the mixture between the twelve cupcake cases.
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cupcakes have risen an inserted skewer or toothpick comes out clean. Set aside and leave the cupcakes to cool completely.
- In the meantime, prepare the cream cheese frosting. In a mixing bowl, beat the softened butter (ideally with an electric hand whisk) for around 5 minutes until fluffy and pale in colour. Next, add in the vanilla and have of the icing sugar and beat well until combined. Add the remaining icing sugar alongside the cream cheese and quark, and beat the buttercream for 1-2 minutes until everything is smooth and well mixed.
- Place the icing in the fridge for around 30 minutes to firm up a little while you are waiting for the cupcakes to cool.
- Spoon the cream cheese frosting into a large piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, then pipe it in swirls onto the cooled cupcakes. Decorate the cupcakes with edible flowers or sprinkles, as you like.
