Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Vegan + Gluten Free)

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 a equally delicious 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 desserts) as much as we do! This is a similar recipe, but it’s better suited for cupcakes, which are easier and perfect for a dinner party or holiday!

We each devoured 2 of these cupcakes immediately after the photoshoot. We then promptly delivered the rest to my grandpa because it would have been waaayyy too easy to polish off the entire batch on our own.

Now that Spring is here, it seems perfectly appropriate 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!). It’s also a great dessert for Easter or Mother’s Day. Plus, these carrot cake cupcakes are easier to throw together than a multi-layer cake for a celebratory vegan dessert.

Note: you’ll need to keep the frosting cool before/immediately after piping. It tends to collapse a bit in heat, so definitely wait to frost the cupcakes until they’re completely cool to the touch. If your kitchen gets warm, just throw them in the refrigerator for a few minutes after piping to set.

In addition to carrots, we also added sweet potato into these cupcakes, which has a similar texture and flavor profile. If you’d prefer to leave the sweet potato out – that’s perfectly fine – just substitute with more carrot.

Chopped pecans and hemp seeds add texture and a nutty flavor to these carrot cake cupcakes. You can also add raisins – we made them optional as not everyone likes raisins. 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 bulk order on Amazon, but that’s totally up to you.

We made these carrot cake cupcakes with our homemade gluten free flour blend, which we absolutely suggest making. These will still work with a store-bought gluten free blend however. Note that if your flour blend contains xanthan gum, you shoulld leave the extra xanthan gum out of this recipe. We suggest using this blend if you don’t make your own.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Vegan + Gluten Free)

• 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.