Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

These vegan carrot cake cupcakes are the perfect vegan baking idea for Easter: deliciously moist cupcakes with cinnamon, mixed spice, and chopped walnuts topped with a dairy-free cream cheese frosting!

If you're looking for a vegan Easter baking idea perfect for both adults and kids, these carrot cake cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting could be just the thing for you.

These Carrot Cake Cupcakes are dairy-free and egg-free, using flax seeds, apple sauce, and coconut oil to replace the animal products usually used to make carrot cakes.

The result? Super moist, fluffy, and delicious carrot cake cupcakes with cinnamon, mixed spice and chopped walnuts topped with the most amazing three-ingredient cream cheese frosting (also vegan!).

For more amazing Easter-themed baking ideas, why not check about my lemon, blueberry, and poppy seed loaf cake, or this amazing ginger cake! You might also like this red velvet cake (or red velvet cupcakes!), or these beautiful strawberry cupcakes.

How to make carrot cake cupcakes

To start with, you'll need to grate your carrot.

Using pre-grated carrots isn't recommended if I'm honest - these carrots don't release a lot of liquid at all, which can result in quite dry cupcakes. Instead, use a box grater to grate a medium to large carrot.

Then, you'll make your flax egg, and set it aside, before combining coconut oil, apple sauce, and brown sugar.

Next, add the flour, flax egg, baking powder, spices, grated carrot, and chopped walnuts if using, followed by apple cider vinegar which gives the cupcakes that wonderfully fluffy, cake-y texture.

Finally, stir in as much plant-based milk as is needed to bring the cake mix together. If your carrot hasn't released much water, you might need to add more plant-based milk - but if your batter is already quite loose, you won't need a lot of milk.

I recommend just adding small amounts at a time and using your own judgement, as this aspect can really vary depending on the ingredients you use.

After transferring the batter to cupcake cases, you'll bake the cakes for around 20 minutes and leave to cool completely before icing!

Making the vegan cream cheese frosting

This vegan cream cheese frosting is insanely easy to make and tastes so good.

I first made it a few years ago when I made a marrow cake inspired by this zucchini cake by Minimalist Baker.

Ever since, this vegan cream cheese frosting has been a go-to whenever I want an indulgent, ultra-delicious icing for denser, spiced-cakes such as carrot cake.

The frosting requires just three ingredients: vegan cream cheese (I always use the violife cream cheese), vegan butter, and icing sugar. You can also add a little vanilla essence to the mixture if you want to.

To make, simply mix the cream cheese and butter, then slowly add your icing sugar to your desired consistency and taste. If the frosting is a little to soft, just place it in the fridge to thicken before piping onto your cupcakes.