These cupcakes are everything that I look for in a carrot cake, packed full of carrots, spices, and moist! Of course, I top them with my one and only favorite cream cheese frosting. My whipped cream-cream cheese frosting is perfect for this cupcake, it tastes amazing and does not overpower the flavor of the cupcake!

I made these cupcakes for a wonderful fundraiser that I participated in today. Two of my friends (and former co-workers) are in the process of adopting a beautiful little girl from China, named Josie. To help raise funds, they held a vendor fair. I was fortunate enough to participate in this fair, and sell my cupcakes.

You can visit their site to learn more about their journey and donate!

Now back to the cupcakes 🙂

These cupcakes are packed full of carrots, they require 4 cups of shredded carrots. This ended up being about 8 carrots for me. I would suggest that you peel and shred the carrots before you get started mixing everything else. I peel the carrots, and then place them in my food processor. A few quick bursts does the trick.

This recipe uses oil instead of butter to ensure they are super moist. This will cause your batter to be runny, that is normal.

I could seriously eat these cupcakes right out of the oven!

As I mentioned, since I love the taste of these cupcakes so much…the frosting is very light and creamy. Trust me, you will love it!

Carrot Cake

• 1 1/3 cup olive oil (you could use vegetable or canola oil as well)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 t pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups flour
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 4 cups shredded carrots (about 8 carrots)

Optional: you could add nuts or raisins

Yields 24 cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 35o degrees
2. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat together oil, sugars, and vanilla until mixed. Add eggs one at a time, mixing briefly after each egg.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly add half of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Add carrots to the remaining portion of the dry ingredients and mix until the carrots are coated. Add to the wet mixture and mix just until combined.
4. Line a muffin pan with paper liners, spoon in batter. Batter will be thin. Bake for 22-25 mins, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Adapted from Sweetopia

Whipped Cream-Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 t almond extract
• 2 cups heavy cream

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and extracts using an electric mixer. After ensuring these ingredients are well combined, begin pouring in the heavy cream. Continue whipping the mixture until it has the appearance of whipped cream and can hold a stiff peak.

Frosting adapted from All Recipes