Carrot cake has long been one of my favorite desserts and I’ve always loved the idea of gluten free carrot cupcakes for portion control (when you see how much oil goes into a typical carrot cake recipe you’d know what I mean!).
Spoiler alert: most carrot cake isn’t really “good” for you! This Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes recipe, to the contrary, is a whole lot healthier!
Don’t get me wrong, it still has that decadent and iconic cream cheese frosting no respectable carrot cake would be caught naked and without.
But using alternatives like fresh pineapple, coconut and yogurt, this recipe is as moist as any traditional carrot cake, without all the oiliness.
With all that yummy fruit, honey and yogurt, this gluten free carrot cupcakes recipe also doesn’t need as much sugar as you might expect. The small price you pay for this healthier modification is only that the recipe works out better as cupcakes than it does in a large cake format.
Not to say that you couldn’t bake this as a cake, but as with any lower fat recipe, it is far easier to control the bake time and add extra support (i.e. no sinking!) in a smaller format.
Of course I have another amazing gluten free carrot cake recipe that you can bake in round cake pans or as a sheet cake and it.is.divine. So, if you have your heart set on CAKE rather than CUPcakes, I’ve got you covered.
And don’t you worry if you’re dairy-free (like I am!) — I’ve made both the cupcakes AND the heavenly cream cheese frosting dairy-free for you, so you can enjoy as many as you’d like.
So bust out the fruit and enjoy these gluten free Carrot Cupcakes without any of the guilt that comes with most carrot cakes. I know you’ll love the taste, so don’t feel bad about having two (or more)!
Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes
The perfect gluten free carrot cake in perfectly proportioned cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 2 cups carrots, peeled, grated and packed
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened or sweetened)
- 2 cups crushed fresh or canned pineapple, undrained
- 1/2 cup raisins or sultanas
- 3 eggs (or substitute like aquafaba)
- 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar
- 1/2 cup granulated cane or unrefined coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil of choice (safflower, sunflower, non-GMO canola ...)
- 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt (dairy or coconut, soy or almond)
- 2 1/4 cups (304 grams) gfJules™ All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325° F (convection) or 350° F (static) . Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
Peel, then grate carrots. Pack to measure to 2 cups.
In a large bowl, combine grated carrots with coconut, pineapple and raisins. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light. Add honey and sugar, then beat until frothy. Stir in oil and yogurt.
Gradually mix in the Jules Flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices until well mixed. Fold in the carrot mixture.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling 2/3 - 3/4 full.
Bake for 20 minutes, then begin checking with a toothpick for doneness -- toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake should come out with only dry crumbs attached, not wet. Cupcakes should also spring to the touch when done. For larger cupcakes, bake for 30 minutes or more.
Remove to cool completely on wire racks before frosting.
Notes
Hop to my vegan Cream Cheese Frosting recipe here.
Pin it for later!
Based on 3 Review(s)
Mine stuck to the papers. A lot. The cream cheese frosting made up for it 🙂
Hahaha – yes, there’s not a lot that cream cheese frosting doesn’t help! Some of those papers are so flimsy that they tend to stick a lot to muffins and cupcakes. I find this kind is the best. Happy Baking!
~jules
Hello jules, i want to know if i can do this recipe without the pineapple or if i need something to sustitu, because i want to trying making the cake without pineapple?
Thank you
Hi Afra, you’re going to have to use something in place of the pineapple. Perhaps 1 cup of applesauce and 1 cup finely diced apples? You need to replace the moisture with a sub that you have on hand and want to use. Let me know what you end up doing!
I made these for my mother in law’s birthday dinner. They were fantastic! I subbed applesauce for the oil and added in some pecans. Even the gluten eaters agreed they were great. The leftovers disappeared within a couple of days.
Fantastic to hear, Maggie! I love the sub and I’m glad that it worked well for you. Sounds like you gave your MIL a treat made with love!
I just made this recipe for Easter as a cake (not cupcakes) and it worked wonderfully! The pineapple and coconut play off the carrot very well and minimize the difference in taste between gluten free flour and wheat flour. Everyone at the dinner table agreed that this was excellent cake all-around. I will be adding the recipe to my cooking notebook!
So glad your family loved the cake! Since my flour doesn’t have any taste or aftertaste, it really lets the true flavor of these yummy ingredients shine!
Can you freeze the carrot muffins? Way too many to eat at once!
Hi Beth – yes! Just make sure they’re cooled and then put them in a freezer bag. They’ll keep well that way. Enjoy!
Thanks. They’re really terrific but next time I’ll drain some of the pineapple juice. They took an hour in the oven and still soggy. I let them dry on the counter overnight and now they’re great. Thanks again for your wonderful flour and all the great recipes!
Saw someone was asking about the calorie count. I calculated the calories using large eggs, sweetened coconut, unsweetened crushed pineapple, cane sugar, canola oil, low fat vanilla yogurt, and honey. For 24 muffins, each muffin is 140 calories
Beth – thanks much for running the calorie count on this recipe!
Was wondering if you send to Canada and what would the cost be. Thank you
Hi Maureen – at this time we are unable to ship to Canada due to the expense. If you know of someone in the States who could receive shipments for you though, a lot of folks take advantage of our free shipping options and then have friends ship to Canada for them. I hope that can work for you until we can figure out a way to efficiently ship to Canada!
I just made these with a flaxseed mixture instead of egg. I think they would be perfect if the pineapple had been drained. But, they’ve been baking an hour and skill have a raw, wet texture! Next time, I’ll drain the pineapple and maybe use a little less. But, I just wanted to report that a flax seed “egg” works, but requires less moisture. Thanks!
Great to know, Jamie – thanks!
Jules,
My husband and I love carrot cake! This recipe looks wonderful! Can’t wait to try it out. Thanks so much. I have your recipes in dropbox, always with “by Jules” on them so you receive proper credit. My sister is also gluten intolerant, so via dropbox I share your recipes with her. Thanks for making our lives easier and bringing delicious GF foods to us.
What a fantastic way to share, Rivkah! Modern technology isn’t all bad, is it?
So glad you’ll also be able to put this recipe to good use!
Is there a substitute I could use for yogurt? My husband is allergic to that too!
Maria – what in the yogurt is he allergic to? You can use a different kind of yogurt base, like coconut yogurt, if that helps. Otherwise, sour cream or soy sour cream would work.
They look delicious! My problem with coconut is it sometimes outshine the carrot. I am gonna give it a go.
Just made a carrot cake, with no other fruit/veggies. I missed the raisins, coconut and pineapple. Thanks.
Hi Paula, you can cut the coconut in half here and still get some nice texture out of it, if you’re afraid it will outshine the carrot. The other good tip would be to use unsweetened coconut instead of the regular sweetened kind. It really minimizes the coconut flavor – could be the perfect combination for you!
I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Do you think Greek yogurt with higher protein content would work ok?
Yes, Laurie – I think it would work fine. Enjoy!
I’m allergic to wheat, milk and eggs, but sure do love carrot cake. You usually add alternative ingredients, but I noticed this time it just says eggs. Is this one of those recipes that really won’t work well using egg replacer?
Susan
Hi Susan – I didn’t offer an egg sub in this recipe because I haven’t tried one yet, and I’m leery of using subs when the recipe works well with 3 eggs, particularly when there’s not a lot of fat otherwise in the recipe to support it. You could certainly try your favorite sub here, knowing that the result will be more dense. Baking as cupcakes will help, though. I’m sure they’ll still taste good!
Hi, Jules, in answer to Susan’s question regarding egg substitutes, I’ve used 1/4 cup applesause for each egg needed. I tried it in one of your bread recipes and it came out great. So, I’m sure it’ll work also in this recipe. I’ll try it soon.
Great, Marie – thanks!
I’m grateful for any reduction of calories in my favorite foods. Thanks!
Glad the recipe will be useful to you, Sue!
Can egg substitute and sugar substitute be used in this recipe?
Hi Mary Anne – I would think that coconut palm sugar or blown stevia or splenda would work fine, especially since there is not a lot of sugar in the recipe as it is. Regarding the egg sub, as I said to Susan, I didn’t offer an egg sub in this recipe because I haven’t tried one yet, and I’m leery of using subs when the recipe works well with 3 eggs. There’s not a lot of fat otherwise in the recipe to support it, either. You could try your favorite sub, knowing that the result will be more dense, but they’ll still taste good. Baking as cupcakes will help, though.
Jules, I miss carrot cake so much, unfortunately there are issues…do you have substitute suggestions for carrot and pineapple? I know that it’d no longer be “carrot” cake, but that flavor is so wonderful, I’d love to give it a try.
Michaela – try zucchini instead of carrots and applesauce instead of pineapple – that could be a fun cake!
These sound delicious! I’ll probably use plain yogurt with a splash of vanilla since that’s what I have on hand.
Jayne, I think that would work just fine! Enjoy!
This recipe sounds good enough to entice me to bake, but I am not cooking for a family – just for me. Do you think this recipe can be reduced to make fewer cupcakes? Carrot cake/cupcakes has always been a fav or mine, but even so, I don’t need to eat 24 of them.
So glad you want to try this recipe, Sharon! It should be easy to cut in half to make fewer cupcakes. For the eggs, use one full egg and one egg white. Hope that helps!
Will applesauce work as a substitution for the oil in the recipe?
Hi Janis, you could sub applesauce for the small amount of oil but the result will be more dense. Not necessarily bad or anything, but expect the cupcakes to be more dense than the picture of mine.
I cannot wait to make these! My son loves a carrot cake recipe much like this – using all purpose flour. He has loved other GF recipes of yours (he requests your Chewy Breakfast bars every week for easy take away breakfast) and these sound delicious. Is there any way to figure out the calorie count on these?
Karen- so glad you and your son will be enjoying this recipe soon!!! I don’t have a calorie count on the recipe, mostly because there are so many variables like the type of yogurt used. We also don’t have the wo-man (!) power to run all my recipes through nutritional software, but I’ll put this on the recipe list to try to run through sometime. Enjoy!