Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Why We Love This Recipe

• Holiday favorite: these vegan cupcakes make a great dessert for Easter, Mother's Day or even Thanksgiving! They're also fantastic for birthday's. Plus, they're so much quicker to throw together than a multi-layer cake for a celebratory vegan dessert.
• Packed with ingredients, but still light and fluffy: These cupcakes are studded with signature carrot cake ingredients, like shredded carrot, raisins and walnuts. But despite all of the mix-ins, they're not dense at all.
• Vegan cream cheese frosting: Need I say more?! This creamy, tangy, insanely delicious frosting is the perfect pairing for these cupcakes.
• Gluten free option: It's easy to make these cupcakes gluten free with one simple swap!

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make these vegan carrot cake cupcakes:

Ingredient Notes

• Flour: If you're making these vegan carrot cake cupcakes with regular all purpose flour, you can skip the oat flour. If you're making them with gluten free all purpose flour, we recommend also using a small amount of oat flour, We have found that this gives the cupcakes a better texture.
• Raisins: we prefer using golden raisins, which tend to be sweeter and more moist than regular raisins. However, they can be harder to find, so you can absolutely swap with regular raisins if preferred! Alternatively, feel free to use chopped medjool dates for something different.
• Walnuts: you can sub with pecans if preferred. To keep this recipe nut free, leave them out or sub in your favorite seed.
• Carrots: we use a cheese grater to grate whole carrots, but you can also use a food processor attachment if you have one (it's much quicker!). We don't recommend using pre-shredded store-bought carrots, which tend to be quite a bit thicker and are better suited for something like this carrot salad.
• Nondairy milk: we prefer using oat milk for its neutral flavor and creamy consistency. Cashew or almond milk would also be a good choice.
• Applesauce: we use unsweetened applesauce in this vegan carrot cake. It acts as a binder and egg replacement, without making the cake too dense.
• Apple cider vinegar: it may not seem very important, but don't skip it! The vinegar reacts with the baking soda to create a lift in the cake, which greatly improves the texture and density.
• Cream cheese: when it comes to the vegan cream cheese frosting, we recommend using VioLife, Kite Hill or Miyoko's.

Instructions

(PREP) Preheat oven to 350˚F / 175˚F  and line muffin tin with liners.

(1) Cream the butter in a stand mixer, then add in sugar and brown sugar and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy.

(2) Add applesauce and vanilla extract and continue mixing until incorporated.

(3) In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cloves.

(4) Add half of the dry mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Then add half of the nondairy milk and the apple cider vinegar. Add remaining dry mixture, then remaining milk and mix until the batter is smooth.

(5) Fold in shredded carrots, raisins, and walnuts until evenly incorporated.

(6) Using a large cookie scoop, portion the batter into lined muffin tins, filling about ¾ of the way. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

(7) While the cupcakes are baking, beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, and beat until stiff. Add vanilla and cinnamon.

Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting.

Optional garnish: use a vegetable peeler to peel thin strips of carrot, then roll into a spiral for a cute and simple garnish. You can also sprinkle each cupcake with finely chopped walnuts. 

Tips and FAQs

• Gluten free option: If you are making these gluten free, substitute the all purpose flour with 2 cups of gluten free all purpose flour + 1 cup of oat flour.
• Cool the cupcakes & frosting: you'll need to fully cool the cupcakes 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!
• Don't overmix the frosting: if you beat the vegan cream cheese and butter for too long, it will start to separate. Mix just until combined, then until stiff when you add in the powdered sugar.
• Don't worry if the butter mixture looks like it's separating after you add in applesauce – that's normal. It will come back together once you add in the dry ingredients.
• Don't like cream cheese frosting? Sub the cream cheese with more vegan butter for a plain vanilla vegan buttercream.
• Storage: we recommend storing leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Other Cake Recipes to Enjoy

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