Vegan carrot cake cupcakes have a soft, sweet carrot cake, topped with a creamy whipped cream! Healthy, gluten free and sweetened naturally.
RECIPE + PHOTOS UPDATED DECEMBER, 2019.
Hey, hi, hello! Here’s your perfect Easter brunch treat/dessert/meal. Vegan carrot cake cupcakes that are a must try, even if you aren’t a huuuuge carrot cake fan. You can trust me on this one. I’m a chocoholic all the way, but with spring finally arriving, I’m craving all things berry, springy, Easter-y, carrot-y.
I love Easter. There’s just something about the beautiful pastel colors, cute bunnies and chicks, and the time of year when it’s finally bearable to go outside again. Oh hey there, sun. I’ve missed ya.
So, in the name of all things beautifully pastel, sweet, and Easter-focused, my mind goes straight to carrot cake. It’s like, the official dessert of Easter, no? I might’ve made that up, but that’s what it is to me, so let’s go with that.
Ingredients for vegan carrot cake cupcakes
- Rolled oats: you’ll blend the oats into flour, which helps to hold the cupcakes together.
- Almond flour: almond flour provides a softer texture than if we were to only use oat flour.
- Baking powder: baking powder gives the cupcakes a little lift.
- Medjool dates: you’ll blend the dates into a paste, and they’ll be the the natural, fruit sweetener in the cupcakes.
- Carrots: because carrots are a must in carrot cake cupcakes.
- Vanilla extract: a bit of vanilla helps round out the flavor.
- Nondairy milk: nondairy milk brings the cupcake batter together. I use unsweetened almond milk for neutral flavor, but any nondairy milk should work.
- Coconut cream: unsweetened coconut cream whips up into super light and fluffy frosting.
Tips for making vegan carrot cake cupcakes
- Chop the carrot into very small pieces. I like cutting my own carrots (rather than getting bags of pre-shredded carrots) and feel it makes a big difference in the flavor and texture. Make sure to chop it as finely as you can, you don’t want huge pieces of carrot in the cupcakes.
- Use silicone liners for easy removal. I use these silicone liners and HIGHLY recommend something similar to avoid the cupcakes sticking to the pan.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely. The cupcakes are quite delicate and soft, so make sure to let them cool in the pan before removing to cool completely. They also need to be completely cool so that the frosting doesn’t melt and slide off.
- Use the top portion of the coconut cream only. You’ll scrape off the top, solidified portion of the cans of coconut cream only. This is the part that will whip up to whipped cream texture, do not use the liquid at the bottom of the can.
These vegan carrot cake cupcakes are perfect for spring (or any season, let’s be real). Soft, sweet cakes, all topped with that light as a cloud whipped cream. Swooooon.
Xo,
Sara
Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats, blended into flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup date paste – blend 15 pitted medjool dates with 1 cup hot water, then measure out 1 cup paste
- 1 cup carrot, chopped into very small pieces
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup nondairy milk – I use unsweetened almond milk
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 2 cans coconut cream – make sure it's unsweetened, and not coconut milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix the oat flour, almond flour, and baking powder.
- Add the date paste, chopped carrot, vanilla, and nondairy milk, and stir into a thick batter.
- Portion 1/4 cup of batter into each lined cup, and bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes.
- While the cupcakes are baking/cooling, make the frosting.
- To make the whipped cream, open the cans of coconut cream and carefully scoop the solidified portion on top out into a bowl. You can discard the leftover liquid or save it to use in whatever way you'd like.
- Whip the coconut cream with a hand mixer until light and fluffy (mine took about 4 minutes). I like mine unsweetened because the cake is sweet enough for me, but feel free to add a bit of liquid stevia to keep the smooth texture and add a bit of sweetness.
- Spread or pipe the whipped cream onto the cooled cupcakes and enjoy!
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
Total chocoholic here too, but I have a deep deep love of carrot cake! Why choose 🙂 The spiced meets sweet meets TONS of fluffy frosting is so yummy! And I must say you and I are on the same page when it comes to frosting amount???? I love how healthy and simplified these Easter-perfect mini cakes are, as per usual coming from you. And totally grain-free but still with perfect fluffy texture which is kind of amazing to me too. Still not the best with the grain-free baking????You legit could’ve been describing my mom–(annoyingly) good at piping frosting and never one for making carrot cake–so I never had it growing up either. But once I did I fell in love and it is still up there with chocolate in my fave cake ranking. Plus so very springy????
Haha so glad you appreciate my frosting to cake ratio – should be about equal, in my opinion!! Grain free baking is always an adventure, but these did come out surprisingly fluffy and light! That’s too funny that your mom is the same way! My mom seriously can not even try and come out with a masterpiece, haha. And hooray for all things spring, finally! 🙂
That coconut whip cream, though – fluffy clouds of perfection!
Haha you’re so right Jess, it’s pretty mesmerizing! Soooo fluffy every time 🙂
Wow these look beautiful! I am always looking for a good low-carb low sugar oil free recipe! Will have to make it soon with my sister!
Pinned!
Thanks so much! There’s a lot of those types of recipes around here 🙂 let me know if you try them!
Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me what exactly you mean when you say finely chopped carrots? Thanks
Hi Millie! I bought the carrots that are pre-chopped into matchstick shape at the store, then chopped those into super tiny pieces. You could also just buy baby carrots and chop them length-wise, then a bunch more times the other way until they’re in super little pieces. Hope that helps!
Hi Sara, thanks so much for replying! Thats really helpful, I thought that maybe you meant grated carrot like most other carrot cakes recipes:)
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Sara! Thank you for posting this recipe. I am making these for a newly acquired family member who is vegan. My first attempt has the flavor correct but the middle not cooked and the outside tough/chewy. I could try and make adjustments on test batches but don’t have the time… help! 🙂 (I am not a very experienced “baker”) Any ideas?
Hi, Erika! The outside will definitely be slightly more firm, but definitely not tough! My only guess is that maybe the coconut flour is more or less absorbent than the brand I used (coconut flour can be a little finicky). Maybe add slightly less to help the inside cook faster and the outside stay softer? Just a guess, but I hope that helps!!
What do you do with the coconut milk that’s left in the can after scraping up the thick cream?
Can I use that instead of almond milk?
Hi Alisha! I usually just discard that liquid, sometimes my husband puts it into smoothies, haha. I have not tried using that instead of almond milk, I’m not sure that it would work exactly the same since it seems much thicker.
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Erica….your oven may be cooking hotter than what you have it set for…buy an oven thermometers and check it
These look so amazing! I do not have coconut flour and would like to substitute it with whole wheat pastry flour. I know that coconut flour is super absorbative, how would you recommend doing this substitution? Using 1:1 coconut flour to wheat and reducing the almond milk? Or 1:3 coconut flour to wheat?
Hi, Jordan! I have never used whole wheat pastry flour before, so I’m not sure how to use it as a substitute, but if I had to guess, I’d just use a bit more flour rather than reducing the liquid. Let me know if you try it and how it goes! 🙂