Irresistibly fluffy & secretly healthy carrot cake cupcakes…
These light and delicious healthy carrot cake cupcakes can be:
♥
Vegan
Sugar-Free
Gluten-Free
High-Fiber
With 74% Of Your Daily Vitamin A!
No one can ever tell they aren’t full of fat and calories!
Who doesn’t love carrot cake? But while traditional carrot cake may seem healthy (it’s made with a vegetable!), it is secretly full of so much sugar, fat, and empty calories that you might as well be eating a Snickers bar. These soft and moist carrot cake cupcakes offer you the best of both worlds—decadent enough for dessert, yet healthy enough that you could eat them for breakfast if you so desired.
Make them even healthier by icing them with Homemade Greek Yogurt Frosting.
EDIT: In less than a month since this healthy carrot cake cupcake recipe was first shared, they’ve already become one of my most popular recipes on instagram by far!
It’s so crazy to see how many of you are already making them!
If you make a batch of your own, please feel free to tag me on Instagram, @ChocolateCoveredKatie so I can see and like your creations!
Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes
You can also make a Healthy Carrot Cake
Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup spelt, white, or Bob’s gf flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup sugar, unrefined if desired (or xylitol for sugar free)
- 1/16 tsp uncut stevia OR 2 tbsp more sugar
- optional 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup oil (Some readers say they subbed applesauce with good results, but I haven't tried)
- 2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 packed cup shredded carrot (200g)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F and place 9 cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then set aside. In a large measuring cup, combine all liquid ingredients (including carrot). Mix wet ingredients into dry, and immediately portion into the baking cups and place in the oven. Bake 19 minutes, then allow the healthy carrot cake cupcakes to cool before removing from the tray. These healthy and vegan carrot cake cupcakes are soy-free and can be gluten-free and sugar-free. Top them with the frosting recipe linked above or with my healthy cream cheese frosting recipe, also posted on the blog.
Links Of The Day:
You have three different carrot cake cupcake recipes on your site. What ingredient do you think makes the biggest difference in taste? I usually use coconut oil and erythritol for my fat/sugar choices. Your photos are gorgeous, I’ll be thinking about carrot cake all day 🙂
I can only think of this one and one other recipe posted back in 2008 when I’d first started blogging and had nowhere near as much baking knowledge (the older recipe isn’t categorized on my recipe page for this reason, and I haven’t made it in years). So I would definitely go with these instead 🙂
The ones I have made were your “singe lady” cupcake and the two-layer mugcake. They were good, but I didn’t make them twice. These look delicious, I will give them a go.
I LOVE the mug carrot cake. Perfect craving food!
I really like the sound of this recipe – do you think it would work with all stevia? I usually do that with my “utility” muffins, but I suppose it depends on the tastebuds of the taster!
It looks very Yummi . Plus it is very nutritious and very healthy , unlike regular cakes are almost as junk food . Such recipes are very practical for children.
Oh my golly these look amazing! I love carrot cake!
These look fantastic! I’m definitely putting them on the list to make for Easter!
In your nutrition calculations do you include the oil or use all applesauce?
It’s for the oil version.
Healthy, tasty, and colorful, the best three ingredients you need.
Are the nutrition facts with sugar or xylitol?
Katie, first thank you! Can these be made as a cake? Eileen
Hi Katie!
My name is Brynne and I am a freshman in high school with a passion for healthy living! I discovered your blog about a year ago and have been obsessed! I feel like we are already great friends from your personal posts! I have always been interested in starting my own blog but have no idea what to do. I was hoping that by reaching out to you I could get some tips and tricks about starting a blog, posting, getting inspiration, ect. But mostly how to get started and get yourself out there. Thank you so much for taking a little time out of your busy ace dual to help me out, I really appreciate it!
Sincerely,
Brynne Winiarski
These look delicious!!!! I’m all about carrot cake lately. I just made these healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies that the entire family loved. I’m definitely making these next!
http://www.bitesforbabies.com/recipes/carrot-cake-oatmeal-cookies/
Katie, your carrot cakes are so healthy, it ticks all my demands. Thanks! 🙂
I’d also put in a vote for people to try your carrot cake bars, from your new cookbook, because they’re delicious!
I used a different recipe for the icing because I wanted to have cream cheese frosting (I was making the bars for my sister who loves carrot cake and cream cheese frosting), so I still have to go back and make them again so I can give your cookbook’s frosting recipe a try. But I made the carrot cake bars to the letter of the recipe and they were a huge hit. So yummy!
I’ll email you a picture. The quality’s not great — I’m gaining such a respect for your photos and other food photographers — but if it inspires one person to try your recipe, then mission accomplished. 😀
I don’t see a way to email you a picture – do I just post a message to your Facebook page? (I don’t want to go ahead and do it if it creates some sort of clutter on there that you don’t want, so let me know if that’s the right way to send it to you or if I should do something else.)
Thanks!
Sorry, just seeing this! Yes, please feel free to post to my fb page! 🙂
I love carrot cake, piled high with homeade cream cheese frosting! Your cupcakes look so good I can’t wait to make them.
Oooh so excited about this recipe! Wish I woud’ve had it last June when I was determined to make carrot cake cupcakes for my little one’s birthday party. But I didn’t like any of the recipes I had tried! I’m positive this one rocks! Maybe her 2nd birthday will be the one for carrot cake 🙂
Mini version of my favourite cake – Yes! 😀 It looks fantastic Katie 🙂 Perfect bites for Easter 😀 x
I used to love carrot cake- but cake tastes too sweet for me now. I might try these hoping that I can (once again) enjoy carrot cake!
These look super yummy! Perfect for Easter! I really love carrot cake. I cant wait to try out this healthier version! Thanks!
I am eating one of these gems right now, and I am in cupcake paradise! Sometimes I roll my eyes when a blogger claims something healthy tastes “like the sinful version” but these actually DO! You would never know they are healthy!
Yummy! Prefect for Easter! 🙂
I
Made these last week and loved them, I want to make them for my sons first birthday party. If you were to freeze them would you freeze the batter unbaked or freeze once baked?
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Bake, then freeze. The leavenomgight deactivate in the freezer, and the carrot texture and batter would change. Such is the nature of quick breads.