Soft, moist, fluffy, delicious, and eggless Carrot Cake Cupcakes! These cupcakes are made with freshly grated carrots and topped with creamy, rich, and velvety Mascarpone Whipped Cream frosting.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes are perfectly spiced, full of carrots, and easy to make. You can serve these cupcakes for birthdays, celebrations, or post-dinner desserts.

Jump to:

About Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Why You Will Love These Cupcakes
Ingredients and Notes
How To Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Baking Tips For Eggless Carrot Cake Cupcakes
More Eggless Cakes and Cupcakes
Recipe Card

About Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I have adapted this cupcake recipe from my Eggless Carrot Cake. It is mostly identical, with some differences in the ingredients and measurements. I have added orange juice and zest to make it more flavorful and delicious.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes are super moist, tender, fluffy, and have soft and delicate crumbs. Moreover, the cupcakes are topped with a delicious mascarpone whipped cream frosting.

However, you can top the cupcakes with your favorite icing. You can frost the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, buttercream frosting, or whipped cream frosting.

An electric mixer is not needed to make the batter because these cupcakes are oil-based, making everything easy to mix.

We sieve and whisk the dry ingredients into one bowl. We mix the wet ingredients into another bowl, combining the dry ingredients with the wet ones. Then, we gently fold in the grated carrots.

Why You Will Love These Cupcakes

These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are soft, moist, and fluffy.
They are full of carrots but incredibly delicious.
The cupcakes are perfectly spiced and sweetened.
The recipe is easy without an electric mixer.
They are balanced with a pleasing and zesty orange flavor.
The Carrot Cake Cupcakes are topped with creamy and rich mascarpone whipped cream.

Ingredients and Notes

Surprisingly, there are no fancy ingredients to make these moist and fluffy cupcakes. There are real possibilities that you will find each ingredient in your kitchen. The only thing is that you might need to go and grab some carrots, which are as fresh as possible. So, first, let’s start with carrots.

Carrots: Do not use pre-packaged shredded carrots. They are likely dry and lack the necessary moisture for these cupcakes. Instead, choose whole carrots, peel them, and shred them yourself. Then, use the fine shredder in a food processor or manually to grate the carrots. If you finely shred or grate the carrots, they will be evenly distributed in the batter.
All-Purpose Flour: I used organic, unbleached all-purpose flour to make these delicious cupcakes. But if you don’t have organic, use the regular one. You can also use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour.
Granulated Sugar: For making these Carrot Cake Cupcakes, ¾ cup of sugar is sufficient because they will be further topped with sweet frosting.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda: These two leavening agents are essential for the recipe. However, do not interchange them with each other. Also, make sure that they are active and not expired.
Salt: It provides the perfect contrast to the sweetness.
Spices: I have used cinnamon powder, ground nutmeg, and ground ginger. The spices are balanced and do not overpower the taste of the cupcakes. But feel free to omit any of the spices you do not like or do not have. You can also add your choice of spices.
Oil: I have used sunflower oil in this recipe. You can choose any neutral-flavored oil, like vegetable or canola oil. Oil makes the cupcakes moist and delicate. Even after keeping the cupcakes in the fridge, they don’t go dry, as with butter in the cupcakes.
Sour Cream: Sour cream is my go-to and favorite ingredient for baking. I have used full-fat sour cream, and I would suggest the same. However, you can substitute it with yogurt. And if you are using yogurt, use full-fat.
Orange Juice: I have used freshly squeezed orange juice, and I will recommend the same. However, you can add an equal amount of milk instead of orange juice.
Orange Zest: Orange zest will provide extra zing to these eggless carrot cake cupcakes.
Mascarpone Whipped Cream: I topped the cake with mascarpone whipped cream instead of cream cheese frosting. I like the creaminess, richness, and very mild tang of mascarpone cheese. To make this frosting, we need mascarpone cheese, heavy whipping cream, icing sugar, and vanilla. But if you like the classical cream cheese frosting for these carrot cake cupcakes, you can definitely top the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

How To Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Preparations

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Line the muffin pan with cupcake liners and set it aside.

Making The Batter

Sift all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and ground ginger in a medium mixing bowl.
Then, whisk well and set aside.

Take oil, sour cream (or yogurt), and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Whisk well until the mixture is smooth.

To this, add orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla.
Mix well.

Now, add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
Do not overmix.

Add shredded carrots and fold in gently.

Baking The Cupcakes

Fill each paper liner cup about three-quarters full with batter using an ice cream scoop or a spoon.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a wooden skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
Then, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare the mascarpone cheese frosting.

carrot cake cupcakes on the cooling rack

Making Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

In a bowl of the stand mixer, using a whisk attachment, beat mascarpone cheese and sugar on medium speed until well combined and smooth.

Add chilled heavy whipping cream and vanilla.
Mix on low speed until mostly combined.

Then, increase the speed to high and continue beating until the frosting reaches just stiff peaks.
It may take 2-3 minutes, so don’t overwhip the frosting; otherwise, it will become a weird butter mixture.
Refrigerate the frosting until you are ready to frost the cupcakes.

Frosting The Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, fill the piping bag with the prepared frosting and pipe it over the top of each cupcake.

frosted carrot cake cupcakes on the rack

Baking Tips For Eggless Carrot Cake Cupcakes

For the Moist and Tender Cupcakes, Measure the ingredients correctly and use the kitchen scale if possible for accurate measurements. Also, after adding dry ingredients to wet ones, do not overmix. Mix it only until everything is just combined.

Dairy: For rich and moist cupcakes, use full-fat sour cream at room temperature. If you do not have sour cream, you can use plain yogurt instead.

Make-Ahead: You can make the cupcakes ahead of time. However, keep them at room temperature, tightly covered, for a day only. Then, you can top the cupcakes with frosting.

Storing: Place the leftover frosted cupcakes in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Freezing: You can freeze the unfrosted cupcakes for up to a month.

To Make Carrot Cake: If you want to make eggless carrot cake, use my Eggless Carrot Cake recipe. It is delicious!

For Dairy-Free Cupcakes: Use your favorite dairy-free yogurt instead of sour cream. Then, top the cupcakes with dairy-free frosting.

About Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Why You Will Love These Cupcakes

Ingredients and Notes