These carrot cupcakes are beyond moist! This was my first stab at carrot cake and I loved how the carrots just disappeared in the cake, providing natural sweetness and moisture.
This recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen‘s recipe for carrot cake with maple-cream cheese frosting. Her recipes are always amazing! The only reason why I didn’t try out the maple frosting is because I really wanted to use a cinnamon cream cheese frosting that I had made with another cupcake recipe that was just so-so. Next time I make these though, I want to try the maple!
I’m such a huge fan of cream cheese in frosting. It just gives frosting so much more substance. A little tangy, a little salty almost, it balances all the sugar and butter or cream in a recipe. Also, I never put walnuts in cakes, ew! I love walnuts, but just the texture doesn’t go for me 🙂
I just made 6 so this recipe is perfect if you don’t need a whole lot. You can double or quadruple the recipe if you want more.
Super Moist Carrot Cupcakes
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 ground ginger
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg
3/4 cup carrots peeled and grated (a cheese grater works great!)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin/cupcake pan with 6 cupcake liners.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger in a bowl.
- Mix sugar and olive oil in a bigger bowl, then mix in the egg.
- Stir in the flour mixture until well mixed and then stir in the carrots.
- Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 14-18 minutes or until a knife comes out clean but the top middle still looks a little glossy. Let cool.
Fluffy Cream Cheese & Cinnamon Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese softened
1/2-1 cup powdered sugar (depending on how stiff/sweet you like your frosting)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup whipping cream
- Using a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, and cinnamon until fluffy.
- Add the whip cream and mix until the frosting has stiffened up.
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!