The fun way to enjoy carrots at their best is these carrot cupcakes! Even the stubborn carrot hater will also fall for these lip-smacking sweet treats called carrot cupcakes!
Even though carrot is quite a beautiful vegetable with its signature vibrant orange color, you will find more haters than lovers of this extremely nutritious veggie! Agreed right? And if you have a kid at home who is nothing less than a fussy eater, then forget about feeding this carrot thing to him/her! But today I have got you covered! I have got this delicious carrot cupcakes recipe for you which anyone will happily gorge on without even thinking twice! And trust me, the carrot in these carrot cupcakes will not bother them at all and you will be successful to put in the dose of nutrition into their diet which you always wanted to without them whining about it! Plus, these carrot cupcakes are absolutely butter-free; so, you can enjoy them being guilt free.
When I was little, I used to love carrot and never complained about this vegetable. But I was not lucky enough to taste such yummy carrot cupcakes. Thankfully even after being a grown-up now, I still love carrot as much as I used to when I was a kid and that’s the very reason that I got motivated to whip up these carrot cupcakes at home! The only hard work involved in making these carrot cupcakes is grating the carrot and that too if you are doing it manually using a box grater. If you have a food processor, then this step will also be done in a jiffy using the fine grating blade. I love my food processor for such tasks.
I made these carrot cupcakes specially for a friend of mine who shares the same passion towards cooking as I do. We happen to work in same office and don’t leave the slightest opportunity to discuss about food and cooking. Me & my hub were invited to her place for dinner over a weekend and I immediately planned to make something extra special for her because I believe nothing else can make for a more special gift than homemade goodies and she will be the one appreciating it the most if not anyone else! Hence these carrot cupcakes materialized which turned out to be really scrumptious and I was immensely happy to know that they loved it to bits! Even after being totally butter-less these carrot cupcakes are nicely moist thanks to the moisture from grated carrots and beautifully flavored with cinnamon. You can serve these carrot cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting or simple whipped cream; they will be delightful nonetheless!
- Fresh carrots – 1 & ⅓ cup (about 225 gms of carrot), finely grated
- Red apple – ⅔ cup [or equal quantity of apple sauce], grated
- All-purpose flour – 1 & ⅓ cup (175 gms)
- Baking soda – 1 tsp
- Salt – ¼ tsp
- Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
- Walnuts – ½ cup, chopped
- Eggs – 2, large
- Granulated white sugar – ⅔ cup (135 gms)
- Flavorless vegetable oil (Canola or safflower oil) – ⅔ cup
- Vanilla extract – ½ tsp
- Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius (350 degrees F) and place rack in center of the oven. Lightly butter (or spray with a non-stick vegetable spray) or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
- In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
- In another large bowl whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Then whisk in the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract until slightly thickened.
- Fold in the grated apple and grated carrots to the egg mixture. Then fold this wet mixture into the flour mixture until incorporated. Use a rubber spatula for this.
- Evenly fill the 12 muffin cups with the batter; you can use an ice cream scoop for filling up the muffin cups and try to fill equal amount of batter in each cup. This will ensure even baking for each of the cupcakes.
- Bake for about 20 – 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack, and let them cool completely before frosting.
- Serve the carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting or any other icing of your choice. Enjoy!
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