Sweet, tender carrot cupcakes are topped with a smooth, creamy cream cheese frosting in this easy recipe.
When my children were very little, we baked a lot. Cupcakes and cookies. Breads and coffee cakes. So many muffins. And during the holiday season, it kicked into high gear as I made treat baskets for so many people. Even though money was often tight, I could always find a way to transform a few ingredients into something delightful.
Now that my kids are elder teens — 19 and 17 — much less baking happens in our house. It’s not just because they are older. I work full time outside of the house. My son is in college and away from home for a good portion of the year. My daughter has school, so many dance commitments and work too. It’s a lot and it leaves us very time stretched often.
But a sweet treat is still lovely now and again.
Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are a wonderful sweet treat. With a single bowl preparation for the cupcake batter, these are easy to whip up and easy to cleanup after too. You’ll want to hand-grate the carrots for the best results. The finer shreds of hand-shredding impart a better flavor into the cupcakes.
Once they are baked, let the cupcakes cool completely before whipping up the frosting (never frost a warm cupcake!). This cream cheese frosting recipe is sweet and dreamy with a slight tanginess that makes it extra good.
Use a pastry bag with your favorite frosting tip to prepare them. And make sure to dust them with sprinkles for that added fun touch. If you want.
This is a recipe that appeared in my cooking column in the Bangor Daily News back in 2015. Preparing this post reminded me how much I loved writing that column (it ran for about three years) and sharing bits of life and food with our readers. Though that style of writing has waned in recent years, I still love it.
Who knows, maybe the appetite for food columnists will return some day. I will be ready when it does.
And for now, there’s always cupcakes.
Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Sweet, tender carrot cupcakes are topped with a smooth, creamy cream cheese frosting in this easy recipe.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 cup shredded carrots
Frosting:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 4 oz package cream cheese, softened (from an 8 oz package)
- ¼ cup marshmallow fluff
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 10 muffin cups with liners and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the egg, milk and oil to the bowl. Whisk vigorously for two minutes, until smooth. Stir in the carrots.
- Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
- Once cooled, prepare the frosting.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all frosting ingredients and whip until combined and smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag and frost cupcakes.