Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Gluten Free)

These vegan and gluten free carrot cake cupcakes with dairy-free cream cheese frosting are to die for. Perfectly moist, fluffy, flavorful and topped with a creamy, tangy vegan cream cheese frosting. Equally delicious, easier than making a layer cake, and a healthy vegan dessert!

A few months ago, we shared a recipe for a gluten free/vegan carrot cake for Suncore Foods and it was a hit. Apparently you guys love carrot cake (and vegan baked goods) as much as we do! This is a similar recipe, but it’s better suited for cupcakes. Cupcakes are easy to make and perfect for a dinner party or holiday any time of year. Plus they’re the perfect size for a light, healthy dessert. Since these are egg-free and dairy-free, everyone can enjoy.

We each devoured 2 of these carrot cupcakes immediately after the photoshoot. We then promptly delivered the rest to my grandpa. It would have been waaayyy too easy to polish off the entire batch on our own. They may be healthier than your average carrot cake, but 2 cupcakes is still probably an appropriate serving size.

Now that spring is here, it seems like the best time to eat more carrot cake. Carrots are in season and it’s a great way to get an extra serving of veggies. (At least that’s what I tell myself!) These vegan cupcakes also make a great dessert for Easter or Mother’s Day. Plus, they’re so much quicker to throw together than a multi-layer cake for a celebratory vegan dessert.

Note: you’ll need to fully cool the cupcakes fully before frosting. Likewise, it’s best to get the vegan cream cheese frosting nice and cool before piping. It tends to collapse a bit with heat, so you’ll need a bit of patience here! If your kitchen gets warm, just pop the cakes in the refrigerator for a few minutes after frosting. They’ll set quickly.

Secret Ingredient Alert (hint: it’s healthy!)

In addition to carrots, we added to the health factor of these cupcakes by adding creamy sweet potato. We love that sweet potato has a similar texture and flavor profile to carrots but adds a hint of natural sweetness. If you’d prefer to leave the sweet potato out – that’s perfectly fine – just substitute with more carrots.

Add some texture with nuts & dried fruit (if that’s your thing)

There’s another ingredient adding to the health factor in this vegan dessert. These cupcakes are also full of heart-healthy nuts! Chopped pecans and hemp seeds add texture and a nutty flavor to the cupcakes. You can also add raisins if you like. We know they can be polarizing, so we made them optional. If you’re not a huge fan of regular raisins, try golden raisins instead! We almost always use golden raisins over regular; they’re sweeter, more plump and overall taste better. The downside: they can be difficult to find in stores. We use them pretty often, so we actually just place a bulk order online, but that’s totally up to you.

Which gluten-free flour is best?

We made these carrot cake cupcakes with our homemade gluten free flour blend, which we absolutely recommend using. You can still use your favorite store-bought gluten free blend though and these will taste just fine. Note that if your flour blend contains xanthan gum, you should leave the extra xanthan gum out of the recipe. We suggest using this gluten free flour if you don’t make your own. If you have the time, though, you might be surprised by how fluffly and light all your baked goods come out!

And for any leftover gluten-free flour, may we suggest these fluffy gluten free and vegan blueberry pancakes for breakfast the next day?

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Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Vegan + Gluten Free)

★★★★ 4 from 1 reviews

• Author: Lexi
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 12–15 cupcakes 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Oven

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Description

These vegan and gluten free carrot cake cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting are to die for. Perfectly moist, fluffy and flavorful and topped with a creamy, tangy vegan cream cheese frosting. Way easier than making a layer cake, and equally delicious! 

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Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened but not melted
• 3/4 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
• 2 flax “eggs” (1 tbsp flax seed meal to 2.5 tbsp water per “egg”)
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups gluten free flour blend (read notes below)
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum (do not add if store-bought blend already contains it)
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger 
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 3/4 cup shredded sweet potato 
• 1/3 cup hemp seeds
• Optional:  3/4 cup regular or golden raisins

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temp
• 8 oz vegan cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line cupcake tins with liners. 
2. Make flax “eggs” by stirring together flax meal and water and let sit 10-15 minutes to thicken.   
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
4. In a separate bowl, use a hand (or stand mixer) to beat together coconut oil, applesauce, flax eggs, both sugars and vanilla. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into wet.
5. Stir in shredded carrot, sweet potato, hemp seeds, nuts and raisins if using. Let batter sit for 20 minutes, then portion into tins and bake for 24-27 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
6. Meanwhile, make frosting by beating all ingredients together until well incorporated. 
7. Wait to frost cupcakes until they are completely cooled, otherwise the frosting will melt. 

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Notes

If you don’t use our gluten free flour blend recipe, we suggest this brand. If you use another brand of gluten free all purpose flour, read the label and check for xanthan gum. If the blend already contains xanthan gum, don’t add the extra amount indicated in this recipe. 

You can substitute sweet potato with more shredded carrot if desired.