These vegan carrot cake cupcakes are moist and rich and packed with flavor. Topped with a deliciously tangy lemon buttercream and chopped walnuts.
We’ve been going to town on the vegan carrot cake cupcakes you guys! Let’s just say, some recipe testing is just a lot of fun. And having a few batches of these on the go the past couple of weeks has been nothing but a pleasure.
They are so moist, so flavorful and so cute too. The lemon frosting, with some extra tang from a secret (well, not secret at all of course I’m going to tell you) ingredient and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts make the perfect topping.
And on top of all this, they are so easy too.
The recipe is based on our hugely popular vegan carrot cake. That recipe has become so popular that it’s made and served at various coffee shops and cafes around the world! With just a few small changes we adapted that recipe to make the perfect cupcake recipe.
And if you love these cupcakes then you’ll also love our vegan carrot muffins.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Cupcakes:
Ingredient Notes
- Carrots – these should be fresh carrots that you grate yourself. Don’t buy a bag of pre-grated carrots because they will be too dry for this batter. We need freshly grated carrots.
- Distilled white vinegar – this reacts with the baking soda in the recipe and causes the cupcakes to rise.
- Baking soda AND baking powder – we use both in this recipe.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with any other vegetable oil.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Frosting:
Frosting Notes
- Apple cider vinegar – is our ‘not-so-secret’ ingredient for the frosting. It adds some extra tang to the frosting making it taste similar to a cream cheese frosting.
- Lemon juice – can be fresh or bottled.
How To Make Vegan 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.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add light brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax eggs by adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl and adding in 6 tablespoons of hot water (from the kettle). Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract and vinegar and mix into a thick batter.
- If the batter seems too thick to come together then step away from the bowl for 2-3 minutes and then come back to it and mix again. The moisture from the freshly grated carrot will seep into the batter, so that when you mix it again it will come together into a batter.
- Divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes, it should come out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the cupcake pan and transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Start at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and decorate with chopped walnuts.
Recipe Success Tips
Measure the flour properly. I always recommend weighing out your flour. It’s the trickiest measurement in baking and for the best accuracy, it’s worth weighing it out on a kitchen scale. If you don’t have a food scale though then the best way to measure it is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon your flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
The batter is thick. You end up with a very thick batter here and that’s entirely okay. In fact it’s what you’re going for. So don’t freak out when it starts out so thick it’s like it’s not going to form into a batter, just stir a bit more and those ingredients will start to merge together and form into a batter. A thick batter, but a batter nonetheless!
The frosting. You can use our lemon frosting as pictured here, or you can swap it out for our vegan cream cheese frosting that is made with a homemade cashew based vegan cream cheese.
Gluten free. For gluten free cupcakes check out our delicious vegan gluten free carrot cake cupcakes.
Storing and Freezing
These carrot cake cupcakes lose none of their moistness or flavor when kept (covered) in the fridge and they last for at least a week, though of course the fresher the better.
They are also freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months!
More Vegan Cupcakes
- Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
- Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
- Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 and ½ cups All Purpose Flour (188g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¾ tsp Nutmeg
- 2 Flax Eggs 2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed + 6 Tbsp Hot Water
- 1 and ¾ cups Grated Carrot (192g)
- ⅓ cup Canola Oil (80ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 2 Tbsp Applesauce
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
Frosting:
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2-3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Decoration:
- Chopped Walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add light brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax eggs by adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl and adding in 6 tablespoons of hot water (from the kettle). Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract and vinegar and mix into a thick batter.
- If the batter seems too thick to come together then step away from the bowl for 2-3 minutes and then come back to it and mix again. The moisture from the freshly grated carrot will seep into the batter, so that when you mix it again it will come together into a batter.
- Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes, it should come out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the cupcake pan and transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Start at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until the frosting is thick and smooth. If needed, add the extra lemon juice.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and decorate with chopped walnuts.
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method (spoon it into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife, don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup). Or weigh it on a food scale for total accuracy.
- Grated carrots – these should be fresh carrots that you grate yourself. Don’t buy a bag of pre-grated carrots because they will be too dry for this batter. We need freshly grated carrots.
- The frosting. You can use our lemon frosting as pictured here, or you can swap it out for our vegan cream cheese frosting that is made with a homemade cashew based vegan cream cheese.
- Storing and freezing: These carrot cake cupcakes lose none of their moistness or flavor when kept (covered) in the fridge and they last for at least a week, though of course the fresher the better. They are also freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months!
- Nutritional information is based on 1 cupcake (of 12) with a very generous amount of frosting.
- This recipe was first published in November 2016. It has been updated with new photos and a slightly adapted recipe.
Holly says
What would you suggest as the baking time if I were to make them mini cupcakes?
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried it that way, but I’d probably check them at 15 minutes and see how they’re doing. 🙂
Tina says
I made these this morning. I personally don’t care for frosting so I topped these with streusel and it was great! I made the streusel with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, 3 tablespoons vegan granulated sugar, about 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, and 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil. They set really nicely and had a lovely texture, though because of the streusel they looked more like muffins than cupcakes, but I served them at noon so that was probably for the better.
I served these muffins at a meeting to a bunch of carnists and everyone loved them. I’ll definitely make these again! Thanks for the recipe!
Alison Andrews says
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. xo
Michelle Gaberik says
What would the cooking time be if I made these in mini muffin pans?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Michelle, I’m not sure, but much shorter! I would just keep a close eye on them, but it might be as short a time as 10-15 minutes, but since I haven’t made it like this I can’t be entirely sure. 🙂
Jessi says
Wow! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe. I made these cupcakes for a party and everyone absolutely loved them. I piped chocolate shapes to add as decorations on top. Totally delicious!
Alison Andrews says
Sounds awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review! 🙂
Karen says
I used whole meal flour, also added a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves. They turned out perfectly! I was really worried the mixture was too dry and was tempted to add more liquid but I’m glad I didn’t – the more you mix it the more moisture comes out of the grated carrot. It’s a very thick batter but the cakes turned out beautifully and were all gobbled up. My oven is fan-forced – I still had it set at 180°C and they took about 25 minutes to cook. I will definitely make these again!
Alison Andrews says
Sounds awesome! Yes, the batter is so thick, but if you give it a couple of minutes, it does mix. 🙂 Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Pipilota says
Hey!
I was looking for a nice carrot muffin recipe and thought yours look very nice 🙂
I was just wondering about the amount of sugar written in the instructions. I ALWAYS reduce the amount, even if it isn’t very much to begin with.
What do you think if I reduce it to 100 grams, does it change the texture too much? I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be too unsweet for me, I am just wondering about the texture really.
Thanks in advance!!
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried it with less sugar, but others have tried reducing the sugar in some of my recipes and haven’t had any issue. All the best! 🙂
Julie Minder says
We have a friend that is vegan and I made these cupcakes for her. These cupcakes are delicious !! The closest to a traditional carrot cake cupcake. The frosting also is amazing. Even the non-vegans thought they were amazing.
Alison Andrews says
Fabulous! I’m so pleased to hear that. Thanks so much Julie! 🙂
Lara says
it doesn’t say when to add the oil
Alison Andrews says
You’re right! Thanks for pointing that out, I have fixed it now! 🙂
Payal Keswani says
Baked these on the weekend and my family absolutely loved them! I Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! So glad they worked out well! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Mina says
I tried making the frosting by directions, and its all clumpy and no where neear looking like your frosting in pictures. It looks like some softened butter with a little color to it 😛 Any idea what the problem is?
Alison Andrews says
I assume you’re using an electric mixer? If so, then I have no idea why it would be like that, it’s usually quite straightforward.
Sheila says
I have made your carrot cupcake for the girls in the office quite a few times now and they are all gone by the end of the day!! They are amazed that they are vegan. Thank you for your recipe!
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful Sheila! Thanks so much for posting! 🙂
Judith says
Can I use vegan butter instead?
Alison Andrews says
Probably – melted and in the same quantity. Though I haven’t tried it, but I imagine this would work fine.
Lindsey says
Just made these and they are lovely. I didn’t have any flax so used apple sauce but it worked and they have turned out perfectly. It’s the best vegan cupcake recipe I’ve tried and they have risen loads. Thank you for the recipe.
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful! So happy to hear. Thanks for posting Lindsey! 🙂
Karen says
I took these cupcakes to work and my colleagues just couldn’t get over the fact that they were vegan. Actually quite funny how flabbergasted people get when they begin to understand that vegan food is even more delicious and varied. So great how your recipes promote veganism in such an inviting way. Every single recipe is like a tribute. Keep up the great work
Alison Andrews says
Great to hear! Thanks!
Anna Andrews says
Super teatime option..