spiced coconut carrot cake cupcakes

Baked with the rich spices of chai tea and topped with cream cheese frosting, these coconut carrot cake cupcakes are sweet, moist and full of flavor!

I’ve never really been a huge fan of cake — traditional wedding cake, birthday cake — it’s just not for me. If I’m going to make a cake or cupcakes, I prefer them to have a bit more flavor and texture, which is probably why I love carrot cake!

For Easter this weekend, I decided to make mini carrot cakes with a few twists! I flavored the batter with more spices than your average carrot cake by adding warming chai spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom. Then I added coconut flakes to provide additional sweetness. Still, these coconut carrot cake cupcakes are not overly sweet so I paired them with an easy cream cheese frosting and topped them with extra toasted coconut flakes!

So let’s talk about the spices. Do you need to use all of them? Nope — if you’re missing one or two of the spices you could definitely just add a bit more cinnamon or ginger or even leave it out completely!

And as for the cream cheese frosting, you could probably get by on half of a batch depending on how much you like cream cheese frosting! I think half a batch would definitely be enough if you just want to lightly frost your cupcakes.

And if you’re looking for more cupcake recipes, make sure to check these out!

• chocolate cupcakes + peanut butter frosting
• gingerbread cupcakes + cinnamon cream cheese frosting
• chocolate hazelnut cheesecake cupcakes

spiced coconut carrot cake cupcakes

serves: 12 prep time: 15 minutes cook time: 20 minutes 20 minutes

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

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ingredients

coconut carrot cake cupcakes

• flour 130 g (1 c)
• brown sugar 140 g (1 c)
• (lightly packed)
• baking powder 1 tsp
• baking soda ½ tsp
• cinnamon 1 tsp
• ginger ½ tsp
• cloves ½ tsp
• allspice ¼ tsp
• cardamom ¼ tsp
• salt ½ tsp
• vegetable oil 80 ml (⅓ c)
• eggs 2 large
• vanilla extract 1 tsp
• sour cream 120 g (½ c)
• grated carrots 180 g (1.5 c)
• coconut flakes 100 g (1 c)
• (sweetened works best!)

cream cheese frosting

• cream cheese 225 g (8 oz)
• butter 115 g (1 stick)
• vanilla extract 1 tsp
• powdered sugar 350-450 g (3-4 c)

instructions

coconut carrot cake cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). Grease cupcake tin or line with 12 paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, cardamom and salt.
3. Add oil and mix well.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth.
5. Stir in the vanilla extract and sour cream.
6. Carefully mix in the carrots and the coconut and mix until distributed evenly.
7. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
8. Remove cupcakes from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing from tin to cool completely.

cream cheese frosting

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.*
2. Add the vanilla extract and continue beating.
3. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and continue beating until smooth. Continue adding powdered sugar until you reach your desired level of thickness and sweetness.
4. Use a knife to spread frosting onto the cupcakes or a piping bag to decorate.

notes

cream cheese and butter: make sure to use room temperature cream cheese and butter or soften before mixing to make the frosting super creamy!

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