These vegan gluten free carrot cake cupcakes are rich, moist and so delicious. No one will ever guess they’re gluten free.
A cake that’s been a big hit on this blog is our vegan carrot cake.
And ever since putting up that recipe, I knew I wanted to try a gluten-free version. But when I got around to making it I just didn’t feel like making a cake, I just wanted cupcakes!
So these gluten free carrot cake cupcakes were the result.
I wasn’t sure what to do about the frosting – I had a bunch of ideas, but in the end settled with our vegan lemon buttercream frosting and that worked extremely well.
I did eventually get around to making the cake version, check out our vegan gluten free carrot cake recipe too. And if you don’t need your cupcakes to be gluten free then check out our regular vegan carrot cake cupcakes too.
Ingredients You’ll Need For These Cupcakes:
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten free all purpose flour – this should be a blend that is meant for baking. I have used blends that contain xanthan gum and blends that didn’t. It hasn’t appeared to make a difference. So any blend that is available to you and that is meant for baking, should be great.
- Carrots – should be freshly grated for this recipe. Don’t use pre-shredded carrots as they won’t have the moisture you need for this recipe.
- Flax eggs – this recipe uses 2 flax eggs, which is a mix of ground flaxseeds with hot water.
- Apple cider vinegar – can be switched for distilled white vinegar. This reacts with the baking soda and causes the cupcakes to rise.
- Canola oil – can be switched for vegetable oil.
How To Make Vegan Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add gluten free all purpose flour to a mixing bowl along with light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax eggs by mixing 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds with 6 tablespoons of hot water. Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vinegar and vanilla extract and mix into a thick batter. If you have any difficulty mixing it, then just leave the bowl for a minute. When you come back to it the carrots will have released more moisture into the bowl and you’ll be able to mix it into a batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners. The cupcake liners will be full to the top or close to the top.
- Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the cupcake tray for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, frost them with lemon buttercream frosting and decorate with chopped walnuts.
Frosting Options
We chose to frost these cupcakes with our vegan lemon buttercream frosting and decorate them with chopped walnuts (pecans would also work great).
Our vegan cream cheese frosting is also a great option for these cupcakes.
Baker’s Tips
The cupcake liners are filled close to the top. This recipe makes enough batter to fill your cupcake liners close to the top. So if you see that happen, don’t worry, it’s correct.
Make a layer cake instead. If you’d like to make this recipe as a cake, then you can make it as three 6-inch cake layers (bake for 20-25 minutes) or two 7-inch cake layers (bake for 30 minutes).
Storing and Freezing
These cupcakes can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week. Bring to room temperature before serving.
They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw them overnight in the fridge.
More Gluten Free Baking Recipes
- Vegan Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Gluten Free Carrot Cake
- Vegan Gluten Free Brownies
- Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 2 cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- 1 ¼ tsp Baking Powder
- 1 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 Flax Eggs 2 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed + 6 Tablespoons Hot Water
- 2 ⅓ cups Grated Carrot (256g)
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Applesauce
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar or Distilled White Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Frosting:
- 1 Recipe Vegan Lemon Buttercream Frosting
For Decoration (Optional):
- Crushed Walnuts or Pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.
- Add gluten free all purpose flour to a mixing bowl along with light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax eggs by mixing 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds with 6 tablespoons of hot water. Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vinegar and vanilla extract and mix into a thick batter. If you have any difficulty mixing it, then just leave the bowl for a minute. When you come back to it the carrots will have released more moisture into the bowl and you'll be able to mix it into a batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners. The cupcake liners will be full to the top or close to the top.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the cupcake tray for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, frost them with lemon buttercream frosting and decorate with chopped walnuts.
Notes
- Gluten free all purpose flour – this should be a blend that is meant for baking. I have used blends that contain xanthan gum and blends that didn’t. It hasn’t appeared to make a difference. So any blend that is available to you and that is meant for baking, should be great.
- Carrots – should be freshly grated/shredded for this recipe. Don’t use pre-shredded carrots as they won’t have the moisture you need for this recipe.
- Storing. These cupcakes can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week. Bring to room temperature before serving.
- Freezing. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw them overnight in the fridge.
- Nutritional information includes the frosting.
- This recipe has been updated with new photos and lots of extra tips. The recipe itself is unchanged.
Hi, is there a replacement for apple sauce? Maybe pureed apple or an oat milk?
Hi Grace, if you look at some of the other comments, someone replaced the apple sauce with a small ripe banana.
Hi Alison,
I’m excited to try these for my daughter’s birthday. I would prefer to sweeten them with honey or maple syrup instead of sugar… have you ever tried this or can you recommend how to do it?
Can’t wait to try these! Do you think I can sub “chia eggs” for the flax eggs?
Hi there, yes sure I think that would work fine.
Hi! I love the taste of these! But my cupcake wrappers started to peel back from the cupcakes almost immediately. Is that normal?
So glad they taste good! I haven’t ever experienced that with cupcake liners so I would guess it is something to do with the liners themselves.
These turned out great, nice flavor! I weighed everything as you recommended. One thing you could mention in the recipe is that the carrots should be “finely shredded”. My first batch was not so nice, because I used the usual medium shred, which resulted in batter not mixing well and the oil went to the bottom. With finely shredded carrots, the batter was much nicer. I’m adding these cupcakes as a vegan option at our wedding.
Glad you enjoyed them! We do have photos of all the steps so you can see how the grated carrots are supposed to look. 🙂
WOW! I really appreciate your blog. These are the best vegan/gf cupcakes ever! I used one small ripe banana in place of applesauce (I was out), avocado oil and oat milk. We live in Colorado and baking can be tricky at high altitudes. I adjusted by baking at 360 degrees for 23 minutes and they were perfect!
Awesome Jessica! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Alison,
Any suggestion to replace flax eggs in this recipe ?
Hi Sylvia, you could replace the two flax eggs with 6 Tbsp applesauce in addition to the 2 Tbsp already in the recipe. So use 8 Tbsp applesauce in total.
My husband and I are very happy with all of your recipes, and this one is no exception. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much Melissa!
I split this recipe into two – one using an egg replacer and one with real egg – instead of flaxseed egg. This is a perfect recipe for allergic kids. And if you are trialling egg (but then it won’t be vegan anymore). Both turned out perfect with our gluten free flour.
Thank you for sharing!
So glad it turned out well! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
By the way, this is a great start up
Food for babies who is into Baby Led Weaning. I baked this again using cooked puréed carrot and offered it as a starter food to my baby without the frosting. All gone in minutes!
This is exactly what I need for my daughter’s birthday cake – she and my sister are vegan and my sister also has coeliac. How would it work as a whole cake?
Hi Rachel, this would adapt as is to a three layer 6-inch (bake for 20-25 minutes) or two layer 7-inch cake (bake for 30 minutes).
Just out of the oven and smell Devine. Used exactly the ingredients in the recipe but added a bit of Agave syrup to add some extra sweetness. Have also used a peanut butter, vegan and gluten free topping instead.
We open our garden to raise money for charity and serve afternoon tea so these will be a great addition.
Really appreciated you adding metric measurements as we don’t use the cup system in the UK so it was great not having to do complicated maths while baking. Also I have a fan oven so baked on 160 which worked but baked for 30 minutes. Made then in a muffin tin might have overfilled slightly. Thank you so much I will try out some more of your recipes. I was going add a photo but couldn’t see how.
Hi Aideen, so glad you liked the recipe! You’re totally welcome, I find metric measurements to really help with accuracy. Thanks so much for sharing your adjustments as well! 🙂
Well our open gardens are now over for the season and these went down a storm. Even got mentioned on Trip Advisor, about to make yet another batch for a friend who is opening a craft shop and selling tea and cake. I haven’t got quite enough Carrots having just made some traditional carrot cake but going to add a few cranberries and will let you know how these go down at her opening.
People just love that they are both vegan and gluten free .
Hi, I tried this recipe and my batter turned super thick, it turned like a dough. I added everything mentioned in the recipe. The cake wasn’t that sweet. Did I do something wrong?
The batter is very thick, it’s supposed to be, so you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, did they come out okay? They’re not extremely sweet, but I do think they’re sweet enough.
Gluten free AND Vegan, wow!