When I was in 3rd grade, my family and I flew to Arizona to spend Easter with my grandparents. We packed lots of shorts, swim suits, and flip flops for our week in the desert, and I picked out a special dress for the holiday service at church: a light-weight lavender gingham print covered in white daisies. I thought it’d be perfect for the warm weather!
We spent most of the week painting with watercolors, refilling the bird feeder in the backyard, and drawing a gigantic 30-foot tall saguaro cactus with sidewalk chalk on my grandparents’ driveway. We even swam in the neighborhood pool and finally learned how to ride two-wheel bikes on top of all of our sidewalk chalk art.
But on Easter morning, the skies clouded over and the wind picked up. Mom insisted that we wore jackets to church over our summery Easter clothes, but since I forgot one, Grandma lent me her lime green shawl to drape over my shoulders. I looked like a tennis ball!
We quietly sat through the service, listening to the sermon and Grandpa performing with the rest of the church choir, and we stayed on our best behavior so Mom would allow us to eat a tiny slice of carrot cake at brunch after the final prayer. When we eventually walked out into the parking lot to drive home…
It was snowing!
Yes, snow in April in Arizona on Easter! It’s never happened to us again since. My brother and I excitedly sprinted to the car, urging Mom to go faster. As soon as we reached my grandparents’ house, we threw on the warmest clothes we had packed and ran outside to make icy snowballs.
We carefully saved them for two hours, waiting until Grandpa’s truck came down the street. (He had to stay behind to sing in the choir again for the second service.) Then we threw the snowballs at the sides of his car as he eased up the driveway.
I think the only traditional things about that year were dying eggs after church and eating honey-baked ham for dinner. To many sure our holiday this year is a little more on the classic side, I perfected these Carrot Cake Cupcakes, complete with cream cheese frosting, to serve at our Easter brunch!
This dessert is the second installment in Carrot Cake Week on AHB, and when it comes to carrot cake, I like mine packed full of carrots. Yes, even more veggies than cake! None of this spice-cake-with-a-few-streaks-of-orange business. I need lots of freshly grated carrots and an ample amount of cinnamon and nutmeg too. I want it to taste warm and cozy, just like comfort food should.
However, unlike most comfort food recipes, this one is actually healthy! The cupcakes are clean-eating friendly, meaning they’re entirely whole wheat and contain no butter or refined sugar. They’re sweetened with maple syrup instead, which helps keep them moist and adds to the warm, cozy flavor.
Because the cupcakes contain very little fat, you must spray the cupcake liners with nonstick cooking spray. I usually mist them twice to be safe. Low fat cupcake (and muffin) batter sticks to paper liners like superglue, so coating them with cooking spray prevents most of the cake from sticking to the liner. If you use foil liners, you’ll only need to spray once.
Tip: If you forget to spray the liners or don’t quite coat them well enough, seal the unfrosted cupcakes inside of an airtight container for 24 hours. That will loosen the liners from the sides and allow you to peel them off slightly better!
Classic carrot cake demands cream cheese frosting. No, it isn’t clean-eating friendly (if you want a clean frosting recipe, try this one of mine instead), but it’s packed with protein and sugar-free! My secret?
Greek yogurt and instant pudding mix! Greek yogurt is already fairly thick, and the instant pudding mix thickens it even further to give it a similar texture to buttercream, meaning you can pipe it into pretty swirls onto your cupcakes! The cheesecake flavor comes from cream cheese and cheesecake instant pudding mix. It’s sweet, tangy, and delicious!
Now with protein-packed frosting and skinny, clean eating cupcakes… These are basically healthy enough for breakfast! Right?
| Classic Carrot Cake Cupcakes | | Print |
- for the cupcakes
- 1 ½ c (180g) whole wheat flour (measured correctly)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil, melted
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ c (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ c (120mL) maple syrup
- ¼ c (60mL) nonfat milk
- 2 c (210g) grated carrots (about 4 medium, peeled first)
- for the frosting
- 1 c (240g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 (8oz) block fat-free cream cheese
- 2 servings (14g) fat-free, sugar-free instant cheesecake pudding mix
- ¼ c (6g) granulated sucralose (or other sweetener, to taste)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners. Generously coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the cupcakes, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Mix in the maple syrup. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Fold in the carrots.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 23-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes bake, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the yogurt, cream cheese, pudding mix, and sucralose with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes, or until thick. Chill for at least 2 hours before piping on top of the cooled cupcakes. (If chilling longer, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap or foil.)
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and all-purpose flour will all work.
Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the maple syrup.
Unfrosted cupcakes will stay fresh if stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days. The frosting will stay fresh if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More carrot cake recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Carrot Cake Cheesecake by Cooking Classy
♥ Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes by Simple Vegan Blog
♥ Pineapple Upside Down Carrot Cake by Layers of Happiness
♥ Carrot Walnut Cake by Tastes of Lizzy T’s
I have a huge weakness for carrot cake, in fact, it is the only cake I really enjoy – but making a whole cake for one is too much work – so I love this cupcake idea
I had no idea that you loved carrot cake Heather! I remember you weren’t too big on sweets after our last trip to Rick’s. I’ll have to save a serving or two for you the next time I make something carrot cake related! 🙂
Hello. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I tried this carrot cake muffins today, they came out absolutely divine. I only substituted the maple syrup for pure honey and added 1/4 of a cup walnuts. Thanks to you, I impressed my husband and two kids as they said that they never tasted carrot cake muffins as good as these. I am sure that this recipe is going to be on demand for my family. I wish to know whether I can use almond flour instead of whole meal flour.
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed these Tania! That means a lot to me that you think this recipe will be requested by your family in the future. What a huge compliment! 🙂 I don’t recommend using almond flour because it tends to make these overly dense. The gluten in wheat-based flours really helps baked goods hold their shape (and not collapse!) after baking!
The 2 serving pudding?? Is this a complete 3.5 oz instant box?? Tx
Just a 1 oz box Donna! So you only need 0.5 oz, which is the same as the 14g stated in the recipe. I hope you enjoy the cupcakes!
hi! what is i don’t have pudding mix? is there a substitute? thanks!
There isn’t a substitute for the pudding mix; it’s what thickens the Greek yogurt frosting to a typical buttercream frosting consistency. The frosting from this carrot cake of mine doesn’t contain pudding mix, so maybe that would work better for you. I hope you enjoy the cupcakes if you try them Shelly!
Can i use atta?
I haven’t heard of atta before Cindy; what is it?
Hey, atta means wheat flour in Hindi (Indian local language)
Thanks for the information Gautami!
Will the frosting hold up and keep it’s shape for a couple hours at room temperature? If I frosted cupcakes with the chilled frosting and had them out for a bridal shower for 2 hours would they still look nice?
Yes! The frosting will easily hold its shape for 2 hours. I hope you enjoy the cupcakes, and have a wonderful time at the bridal shower!
I made these yesterday for a Healthy Potluck dinner I host every month where everyone has to make a new clean eating recipe to try. These turned out really good, but when I was cleaning up, I realized I didn’t use the dry milk listed in the ingredients. You never included this ingredient in the directions! The cupcakes were still good, but I wanted you to be aware of this error. Next time, I’m going to add some raisin and walnuts to the batter. This is a good base recipe to embellish and the icing was awesome! Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed the cupcakes Kirsten, and I’m touched that you’d make them for your party! I’m not sure I understand what you mean about the dry milk… That isn’t an ingredient in these cupcakes! They require nonfat milk, and that’s included in the Instructions in Step 2. 🙂
Hi Amy, I made your carrot cupcake today! It tastes delicious but I’m not sure why my cupcakes rose in the oven and the top then sank when I took them out to cool. Also they seem to be a bit goey though the toothpick test came out clean. Is that how the texture is meant to be?
I used all purpose flour and honey instead but followed everything else. Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor Karen! How did you measure the carrots? And did you pack them into the measuring cups? The cupcakes aren’t meant to be gooey, just extremely moist, so we’ll figure out what happened with yours so your next batch turns out better. 🙂
Hi Amy, I measures the carrot by weight using a digital kitchen scale. I thought that would be alright ? I tend to measure things by the kitchen scale
The batter looked normal after mixing the dry and wet ingredient but did turn rather runny after I incorporated the carrots in the end…
If I have a runny batter in the end, what can I do to thicken it up or salvage it?
Yes, a digital kitchen scale is perfect! That’s what I use to measure ingredients for all of my recipes too. 🙂 The most common reason that muffins, cupcakes, or cakes collapse while cooling is too much moisture, and by the description of your batter after your added the carrots, that’s probably what happened to yours! To double check, you used freshly grated carrots that were stringy, rather than running them through a food processor to purée them, correct? As for salvaging a runny batter, it really depends on how runny it turned. If it’s just slightly too liquidy, you can add extra flour to thicken it. If it’s incredibly liquidy compared to how it’s supposed to be, you’ll often need to add another lightly beaten egg white or two because the batter will need the extra protein so your baked treats hold their shape after baking.
Hi, I tried making the cake and it turned out to be really good. But can carrots be substituted with anything else? (Carrot grating is really tedious)
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake Gautami! If you prefer, freshly grated zucchini that’s been patted dry with paper towels can be substituted for the carrots. (It’s easier to grate than carrots since it’s not quite as firm!) Otherwise, finely chopped apple or diced strawberries would be good fruit alternatives. 🙂
Thank you! Will try the cup cakes with Apple ?
My pleasure! I’d love to hear how they turn out! 🙂
Hi Amy, for the cupcakes can stevia be used instead of honey or maple syrup? If yes, how much can I add?
Yes, but the amount entirely depends on the exact stevia product that you wish to use! Nearly every stevia product has a different sweetness level, so if you provide me with the exact product you plan to use, I’ll be able to give you a better answer. 🙂
Sweet drops liquid stevia vanilla flavour. (I think it’s the same one which you have used in your carrot cake recipe)
Great! You’ll need 1 ¼ teaspoons of my favorite vanilla creme stevia, and you’ll need to add an additional ½ cup of milk to compensate for the missing liquid. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the variation!
Will keep you updated ?
Great, thanks Gautami! 🙂
Hi! Can I use almond milk, rice milk or soy milk instead of milk?
Yes, that’s fine! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cupcakes Madeleine!