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.

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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