Super moist carrot cake starts with freshly grated carrots! These carrot cake cupcakes are tender, lightly spiced, and full of flavor. Paired with a sweet and slightly tangy cream cheese frosting, they're a guaranteed crowd-pleaser that will take any spring celebration from good to great! Customize your mix-ins and decorate as desired.
Ingredients
- white sugar: 1 cup
- ounces unsweetened applesauce: 4 piece
- vegetable oil: 0.5 cup
- eggs, at room temperature: 2 piece
- vanilla extract: 1 tsp
- all-purpose flour: 1 cup
- ground cinnamon: 1 tsp
- baking soda: 1 tsp
- baking powder: 0.5 tsp
- salt: 0.25 tsp
- ½ cups freshly grated carrots: 1 piece
- raisins: 0.25 cup (optional)
- sweetened coconut: 0.25 cup (shredded, optional)
- pineapple: 0.25 cup (drained, crushed, optional)
- pecans: 0.25 cup (chopped, optional)
- cream cheese, at room temperature: 1 pack (8 ounce pack)
- unsalted butter, at room temperature: 0.5 cup
- powdered sugar: 4 cups
- vanilla extract: 2 tsp
- mini marshmallows, colored sanding sugar, pearl sprinkles, and/or mini chocolate candies as needed:
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
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Whisk together sugar, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla for cupcakes in a large bowl. Sift in flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; mix until well combined. Add grated carrots, raisins, shredded coconut, crushed pineapple, and pecans; mix until fully incorporated. Scoop batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling halfway.
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Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely, about 30 minutes.
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Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and butter for frosting with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually mix in powdered sugar and beat until creamy. Mix in vanilla.
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Frost cupcakes when they are completely cool; if they are even slightly warm, the frosting will melt. Decorate as desired. Simple Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. Allrecipes
