*Best* Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Everyone has their own idea of what the "best" carrot cake tastes like, right? Heavily spiced, moist, carroty goodness, anyone? In my humble opinion, carrot cake should be packed with carrots, raisins, chopped walnuts and then topped with a hefty dollop of quality vegan cream cheese frosting. And when I say packed, I mean it. There are many popular carrot cake recipes which only call for 1 cup of carrots! And of course, when buying carrot cake from a vegan bakery, they are likely going to be conservative with ingredients due to rising food costs. So I say it's time we take this matter into our own vegan hands. These are perfect for any occasion, and pair great with coffee for an indulgent breakfast. Without further ado, let's make some real vegan carrot cake.

a carrot cupcake with icing on a light wooden background.

Best Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Recipe Type: Sweets

YIELDS 24 cupcakes

PREP TIME 15 min

COOK TIME 20 min

TOTAL TIME 35 min

2 cups All-purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
6 ounce Chopped walnuts
6 ounce Raisins
3/4 cup Vegetable/Canola oil
4 Vegan egg
1 1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1/2 cup Cinnamon applesauce
1 tsp Vanilla extract
3 cup Grated carrots
8 ounce Vegan cream cheese
1 stick or 1/2 cup Vegan butter
2 cup Powdered sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions

1. First, grate carrots. This is the most tedious part, but totally worth the effort.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, nuts and raisins. Lightly sift and set aside.

4. In another large mixing bowl, whisk together oil, vegan eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract. Then add grated carrots and mix.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined, mindful not to over stir.

6. Take vegan cream cheese and vegan butter out of the refrigerator to soften at room temperature.

7. Fill each muffin tin about 1/2 full, or about 3 good tbs of batter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I only have one muffin tin that holds a dozen, so I had to do this in two batches.)

8. Once baked, carefully remove each cupcake from the tin and place on a wire cooling rack.

9. For the frosting, combine the vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl. I used a hand mixer, but feel free to use a stand mixer. Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Place in refrigerator until cupcakes are cool enough to be frosted.

10. Once cupcakes are cool, frost each cake according to your liking. I don’t have a frosting tool, but these could be very pretty if you like!

11. And finally, dig in. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Share with friends and family or folks in need. 🙂

Notes: I used Kite Hill vegan cream cheese and Just Egg. I tried baking with Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese in the past, and it does not soften to room temperature at all! And I feel the Just Egg worked great as it lends plenty of additional moisture. (More than egg replacement powders, in my opinion.) Kite Hill and Just Egg are pricier vegan choices, and I’m sure the recipe would be delicious regardless, but I personally found these products worthwhile.

Also by R. Coker: Vegan Jerk Chicken

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Photo: Joseph Gonzalez via Unsplash; R. Coker