Description
These carrot cupcakes are lightly spiced and unbelievably moist. Best of all, you can make them in just one bowl! They pair perfectly with this tangy cream cheese frosting and can easily be converted into a cake instead.
Ingredients
For the carrot cupcakes:
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup carrot, grated
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 oz unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Stir the oil and sugars together to make a thin paste. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir as few times as possible, just until you can’t see the flour in the batter anymore.
- Add carrot and walnuts and fold into the batter with no more than 5 strokes of your spatula.
- Use an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup to fill six cupcakes wrappers about 3/4 full.
- Bake at 350F or 175C for 18 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back slowly when you poke them or a toothpick poked into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Using a large spoon, spatula, or an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar and mix to combine until there are no lumps in the frosting.
- Stir in vanilla and salt and then spoon into a piping bag fitted with any star shaped piping tip. Pipe a swirl onto each cupcake.
- Store cupcakes in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
If you use salted butter instead of unsalted butter, skip the salt in the frosting recipe.
To soften the butter and cream cheese for the frosting, take them out of the fridge 4 hours before using or microwave them for 10 seconds on each side.
You can use this same recipe to bake a cake instead of cupcakes. Use the "2X" or "3X" buttons above this recipe to double the recipe for a two-layer 6 inch cake or triple it for a two-layer 8 inch cake.