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.
So good!! My new go to cupcake recipe! I subbed flax egg for apple sauce and they were perfectly moist!
Wonderful! Thanks Rachel!
I had to make these cupcakes after my success with the carrot cake last week. I had run out of white flour so had to use whole wheat and I also reduced the sugar content by 100g – they still turned out great and were a big hit with my non-vegan friends and family!!!
So glad they worked out well! Thanks for sharing!
What moist delicious vegan muffins that did not drop in the middle. Will definitely be trying your other recipes . Many thanks , I was going to give up with the inconsistent vegan baking results but you have inspired me to carry on.
Yay! So happy to hear that. Thanks Natasha!
Could I possibly use applesauce instead of the flax egg?
Thanks can’t wait to try these
Yes I think that would work fine, it would be 3 Tbsp applesauce per flax egg.
Delicious!
I love to bake but I haven’t dabbled much in vegan recipes yet. When someone asked me to make them vegan carrot cake I jumped at the challenge. Your recipe was great and easy to follow. I also like that it uses everyday ingredients. My husband who isn’t vegan loved them as did my 1 1/2 year old son who stole one off the counter. Thank you!
Fantastic! Thanks so much for posting Jen!
I made these cupcakes earlier today and it was the first time I baked anything vegan. They are absolutely amazing. I was concerned about how dry the batter looked in the beginning but it finally came together.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing William!
These were amazing! I topped the batter with a simple cinnamon crumble instead of the frosting and they were out of this world. Perfectly sweet, and left a feeling of warmth. Definitely gonna turn into a family favorite. Thank you so much for the recipe!!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Cooking as we speak the batter was delicious! can’t wait to eat them 20 mins and counting
I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar and I replaced a bit of oil with almond milk (just to avoid using oil). The result was perfect, I loved it. Thank you very much for this amazing recipe!!
Wonderful! Thanks Merve!
These turned out great! I added in a splash of almond milk to the batter before baking them. The texture of the cupcakes was perfect and I topped them with my whipped cream cheese frosting recipe. Everyone loved them! Thank you
Awesome! Thanks Mitava!
I’ve made these a few times now and they are always favourites! Thank you for all the fabulous recipes!
Thanks Tori!
I love how the spices shine through, and they go really well with coffee.
Hi Brittany! So glad you enjoyed the cupcakes.
Hello Allisson,
I am going to make the carrot cake cupcakes for a shower and wanted to know if you have tried making this recipe with raisins and pineapple?
Hi Deborah, I haven’t tried those additions but I think they would work great! 🙂
These came out really well and are very tasty. Though I found the icing too sweet (personal taste) and too runny a consistency to pipe, so I spooned on top instead. All-in-all, very happy that I found such a good egg-free recipe.
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the great review! 🙂
I’m a failure when it comes to baking but I followed this recipe to the dot and I could not believe I made this. Thank you so much! You have fans from India now. Only thing I changed was I subbed cashews for walnuts because my husband loves cashews. I was so temped to add extra milk or something… Thankfully I resisted the urge.
This is so awesome Roopa, I’m so glad it was a success! Thanks for the awesome comment and review. xo