Carrot Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
How to Make Carrot Cupcakes
Who doesn’t love a good cupcake? Take this classic favorite and add a full serving of vegetables when you try our carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting recipe! Ready to get started? Review the ingredients and instructions to learn how to make delicious carrot cupcakes with your host, Homemade’s Chef Joel.
Ingredients
Carrot Cupcake Batter
- 1 pound of carrots, rinsed and tops trimmed*
- 3/4 cup canola oil or other neutral oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Tools for this recipe include a juicer (optional), a 12-cup cupcake pan (14” x 10.5”) with liners, a blender, a large mixing bowl, and a whisk. *If you choose not to juice the carrots, you can substitute your one pound of carrots for 1½ cups of grated carrots and 3/4 cup of 100% carrot juice.
Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
You’ll need a mixer with a paddle attachment to finish learning how to make our carrot cupcakes.
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Carrot Butterscotch Drizzle
- small saucepan
- whisk
- 1/4 cup carrot juice (leftover from juicing)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Instructions
For the Batter
- Follow the instructions on your juicer to juice the carrots for fresh juice and pulp. After juicing, you should have about 1 ½ cups of pulp and 3/4 cup of fresh juice.
- Juice as many additional carrots as you need to reach this amount.
- Reserve all the carrot pulp and about 1/2 cup of carrot juice for the cupcake batter. The last 1/4 cup will be used in the Carrot Butterscotch Sauce.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line a 12-cup cupcake pan with liners.
- Add 1/2 cup carrot juice, grapeseed oil, eggs, vanilla extract, brown sugar, white sugar, and carrot pulp to the blender.
- Blend on medium speed for 5-10 seconds until everything is just combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
- Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until everything is thoroughly incorporated and no visible flour remains.
- Divide the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them up about 3/4 of the way to the top.
- Place the cupcake pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the surface of the cupcake springs back to the touch.
- Place on a rack to cool.
- Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them with the Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting and drizzle with Carrot Butterscotch Sauce.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the cream cheese and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Beat on medium speed for three minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add the powdered sugar, ground ginger, and coarse salt. Turn the mixer on low and gradually increase the speed to medium as the sugar is incorporated.
- Beat for an additional three minutes, until the frosting is smooth.
- Use the frosting on top of the cupcakes or save it in the refrigerator for up to five days.
For the Drizzle
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stir the carrot juice and brown sugar together.
- Allow the mixture to cook and thicken while stirring continuously, about five minutes.
- Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the butter, sour cream, and salt until fully combined.
- Allow to cool for at least five minutes before drizzling over the frosted cupcakes.
You don’t have to learn how to make carrot cupcakes alone! Follow our video as Chef Joel guides you every step of the way to deliciousness!
If you loved our instructions on how to make carrot cupcakes, you’ll enjoy all of our other free weekly courses. Explore all our recipes today!