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Carrot Cake Cupcakes

  • Writer: Hunnie
    Hunnie
  • Oct 1, 2024
  • 5 min read

Updated: Mar 16





I made this recipe as a request for my niece’s 1st birthday. She’s the cutest, sweetest baby (please stop growing up, okay??). First, let’s review some nutritional information about carrots. Then we’ll chat about some helpful baking tips for these cupcakes. Then finally, you’ll hit the recipe. That’s the game plan. Click accordingly to jump to whatever section your heart desires.








Carrot Nutritional Information: 

Carrots have carotenoids. Carotenoids are pigments that give carrots their orange coloring. There are different types of carotenoids and carrots have beta-carotenes. So why do we care about carotenoids? Because they’re antioxidants. Carrot carotenoids also turn into Vitamin A, which is essential to keeping your immune system strong. 

To get your body better at carotenoid absorption, adding fats will help. However, the type of fat used here does matter. We need fat sources that contain more unsaturated fats than saturated fats, which for this recipe will come from both the vegetable oil and the pecans. Also interestingly enough, you actually can absorb more vitamin A from cooked carrots as opposed to raw carrots. One study showed 6x more vitamin A will make it into your bloodstream if the carrots are cooked. Another small win for the benefits of carrot cake. (Disclaimer: Guys I’m not saying that carrot cake is the healthiest thing you can put into your body. This recipe will have all that sweet glorious sugar that makes it taste so good. Remember, this nutritional info is focused on the carrots and not on the cake, FYI, FYI.) 

Different vegetables have been shown to target cancers in different areas of the body. While colon cancer on the right side of the body is better attacked by broccoli and Brussel sprouts, the army that does better when colon cancer on the left side of the body is actually carrots. How crazy. 

Fact or fiction?: Eating too many carrots will turn your skin orange….It’s true. This is a phenomenon called carotenemia. Carotenemia is caused by having too much beta-carotene in your blood. Keep in mind that this is super uncommon. It can happen if you’re eating a restrictive diet or if you’re eating a large quantity of a specific food. For carrots, you would need to eat about 10 carrots a day for a few weeks to be at risk of orange skin discoloration. This condition is not dangerous and will resolve itself when your diet is corrected.






Baking Tips: 


Flour Measuring: 

When using flour, always give it a good whisk before you measure it. This way, there is some consistency for how much is going in the cup (as opposed to trying to pack it down, don’t do this). 


NOT DRY: 

What makes a carrot cake moist? (Sorry if moist is a trigger word for you.) It’s the sugar actually. Sugar binds with water and allows your baked goods to keep the moisture and not dry out.  


Eggs: 

Use room temperature eggs. If you are worried about getting eggshells into your mixture, crack all the eggs first into a separate bowl. This way, if you have a less than ideal crack, you can easily fish out the shells before it goes into the mixture. 


Carrots - the Star of the Show: 

You unfortunately need to do a little extra work here. The carrots should be peeled before they are grated. If you don’t peel the carrots first, you could end up with green cupcakes. And you really shouldn’t be using pre-shredded carrots and just try to cut those up. Those tend to be too thick and dry for making carrot cake. 


“I’ll just be 5 more minutes”: 

You can tell carrot cake is done baking if it’s a bit bouncy when you lightly touch it. If you touch and your fingers leave a dent, then you know it needs more time. 


🎵 Everyone is Playing the Waiting Game 🎶:

You have to let the cakes cool completely before you frost them. I let my cupcakes sit in the cupcake pan for 15 minutes before taking them out, placing them on a cooling rack for the remainder of the time. 







Recipe Time 

(makes 24 cupcakes) 


Ingredients: 

Carrot Cake Cupcakes: 

  • 2 cups all purpose flour 

  • 3 tsp baking soda 

  • 1 tsp fine sea salt 

  • 4 tsp ground cinnamon

  • ½ tsp of nutmeg 

  • 1 cup vegetable oil 

  • 1 cup brown sugar 

  • 1 cup sugar 

  • 2 tsp vanilla extract 

  • 4 eggs 

  • 3 cups of peeled and grated carrots 

  • 1 cup crushed pecans 

  • 24 cupcake liners and cupcake baking tins 



Cream Cheese Frosting: 

  • 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature) 

  • 2 cups powdered sugar 

  • 1.5 tsp vanilla extract 


Directions:

  1. Take out the eggs and cream cheese to allow them to reach room temperature 

  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 

  3. Peel and grate the carrots, set aside 

  4. If using whole, crush the pecans by placing them in a ziplock bag and then crushing (you’ll want 1 cup of CRUSHED pecans, so measure after the crushing, not before)

  5. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium size bowl 

  6. In a separate large bowl, crack all 4 eggs and give them a good stir. Add in the vanilla extract, vegetable oil, and then sugars (both white and brown). Stir until even.

  7. Next add the dry ingredients to the large bowl. Add and stir in small sections (and repeat), so everything is evenly mixed in.

  8. Finally add in the carrots and crushed pecans and mix 

  9. Place your cupcake liners into your cupcake baking tins. cupcake liners. Fill each cupcake liners with batter so they are ¾ full. 

  10. Bake the cupcakes for 20-30 minutes. Rotate the pans in the oven after 10 minutes so the back ends are now facing the front of the oven (and the front side is now facing the back 

  11. Allow the cupcakes to cool (about 30 minutes) before adding the icing 


Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. This is easier when the cream cheese has reached room temperature. Mix the powdered sugar and cream cheese together. Spread frosting onto cupcakes once cooled 


Store the carrot cake cupcakes in the fridge. These should hold well for 5-7 days. 


Educational Sources:

 

 
 
 

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