The Most Delicious Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Guys, these are the most delicious carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! I know, I know, yet another carrot cupcake recipe? Yes, indeed. First of all, carrot cupcakes are not as common in Germany as in the U.S., so I thought I could give it a go. In case you didn’t know, this blog is bilingual and I also post each recipe also in German, just click on the flag to switch languages. And I did try a lot of recipes before I was happy. I should have known that my favorite American blogger Sally would have the best recipe, super moist, with a creamy frosting and just perfect. Mind you, of course I had to reduce the amount of sugar by a lot, American recipes are way too sweet and I had to tweak it a bit, but boy, are these good!

If you are only making the cupcakes, you won’t even need a mixer, just mix the wet ingredients first, add the grated carrots and chopped up walnuts, dump in the dry ingredients and you are good to go. But if you are making cupcakes, can I ask you to try the frosting at least once? Just this ultra cream texture, the cream cheese, I just love the nice contrast. I grated a bit of walnuts on top, I love the contrast between creamy frosting and crunchy walnuts. I had to force myself not to eat more than one and that really means something in my case!

You can replace the walnuts with any other nut, pecans are more common in the U.S. You may also go for coconut, but I have to say I am not a fan of coconut. I love the fact that the crunchy nuts add an additional layer of flavor and are so crunchy, I really like that. You know when you bite into this soft and moist cupcake and then you get a piece of crunchy walnut? Then I am in heaven. But if you rather try another cupcake, I have very lemony cupcakes, a recipe for my favorite chocolate cupcakes, lemon blueberry cupcakes, some with lavender flavor or pumpkin and caramel. This vegan cupcake with Oreos also made it on the blog as it was so delicious and one of the few vegan recipes I really enjoyed and loved. But let’s go back to these most delicious carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

How this cupcake tastes? You will get a very moist and soft carrot cupcake with a surprise walnut crunch and a very creamy and silky cream cheese frosting. I find American frostings way too sweet, but rest assured this frosting is definitely not that sweet. You can always increase the amount of sugar if you wish, but I find that the sugar overpowers all the other flavors and always reduce the amount, especially if an American recipe was the basis for my own recipe. So did this convince you?

Credit: Cupcakes adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Print Recipe

The Best Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves: 12 regular size cupcakes

Cooking Time: 30min preparation + 20min of baking

You don't need to pull out your mixer for these cupcakes. Moist and with a pipeable cream cheese frosting that is not too sweet.

Ingredients

• 110 grams of canola oil
• 100 grams of brown sugar
• 2 eggs, size L
• 75 grams of plain joghurt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, see here how to make your own
• 130 grams of grated carrots (two relatively large carrots)
• 70 grams of chopped walnuts (or any other nuts, you can also leave out completely)
• 160 grams of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 
  
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 28 grams of all-purpose flour
• 80 grams of regular sugar
• 190 grams/milliliters of milk
• 150 grams of butter, at room temperature
• 150 grams of cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 180 degreese Celsius and line your muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.

2

For the cupcakes whisk together oil, sugar, eggs, joghurt, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Peel and grate carrots, chop walnuts and add to the mix. Pour all other ingredients on top and only whisk until combined. Do not overmix.

3

Evenly divide between the 12 cupcake liners and bake between 20-22 minutes, let cool.

4

For the cream cheese frosting mix together flour, sugar and milk in a pot. Heat up while stirring and let boil for about two to three minutes. It should thicken considerably. Let cool. If not using shortly after, place plastic wrap directly on it. Should be kept at room temperature.

5

Beat the butter for about five minutes or until lighter in color and add the cooled off flour, one tablespoon at a time. Once everything is combined, beat in cream cheese and cinnamon for another minute.

6

Pipe cream onto the cupcakes and sprinkle with some grated walnuts and marzipan carrots, if desired. The cupcakes taste great chilled or at room temperature.