This Diabetic Carrot Cake Cupcakes recipe is a diabetic friendly dessert that is a tender, moist, and delicious lower sugar cupcake that is healthier for you than the oil and sugar filled version. They are a great sweet treat or after dinner dessert and are packed with fresh carrots and warm spices the whole family will love.
These moist carrot cake cupcakes are made with a brown sugar blend, and a cinnamon flavored unsweetened applesauce, then frosted with a cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes are chock full of goodness with only 13 grams of sugar per serving.
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❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
✔️ This is the best carrot cake cupcakes recipe with a silky smooth cream cheese frosting without that overly sweet taste.
✔️ There is only ⅓ cup of oil in these moist cupcakes with applesauce standing in for the standard amount.
✔️ These light and fluffy diabetic carrot cake cupcakes have only 4 grams of sugar per serving!
🥘 Ingredients
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Whole wheat pastry flour, is a lighter texture that aids in producing a fluffier cupcake.
Sugar-free brown sugar sweetener, this is my go to brand.
Unsweetened applesauce, replaces some of the oil that is in most carrot cakes.
Sugar-free syrup, use a thick syrup like this one.
🔪 Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners or coat cups with cooking spray (use the spray without the flour).
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves until combined; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, using a electric hand mixer on low speed, mix the eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla together until combined. Stir in the shredded carrots. Pour the wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Scoop the batter into muffin cups using a ¼ cup sized scoop. Bake the cupcakes for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a small mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer on low speed, combine the softened cream cheese and sugar-free syrup.
- Evenly spread the frosting on the tops of the cupcakes and garnish with a sprinkle of finely shredded carrots.
🙋 Recipe FAQ's
A good substitute for whole wheat pastry flour is to use ½ all purpose flour and ½ whole wheat flour.
Yes, it will up the fat by 3 grams (10 grams of fat) but it will work just as well as the reduced fat cream cheese.
Yes, Greek yogurt will be a good substitute for applesauce.
💭 Tips
- For a more tender result, be sure to sift the whole wheat pastry flour.
- To measure flour, spoon it lightly into the measuring cup, then scrape the excess off with a straight edge knife. Do not tap the cup, this packs the flour in and will result in an incorrect measure.
📖 Variations
- Stir 1 cup mini chocolate chips into the cupcake batter before scooping into the muffin tin.
- Sprinkle the top of the frosted cupcakes with a little bit of unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Use mini muffin tins and liners to make a mini cupcake, you will get 30 mini cupcakes from this recipe.
- Sprinkle the top of the frosted cupcake with sugar free sprinkles, unsweetened toasted coconut, or finely shredded carrot.
🍽 Equipment
Grater, to shred carrots
Mixing Bowls
Electric mixer
Wooden spoon
Rubber scraper
Muffin tin
Cupcake liners
🏫 What I've Learned
- The secret to a moist, delicious cupcake with less fat and sugar is to use ingredients that add moisture.
- For this cupcake recipe, I shredded whole carrots fine, added applesauce in place of oil, and used whole wheat pastry flour to reduce the amount of protein and gluten in the cake.
- These changes did not affect the texture or flavor of this diabetic friendly cupcake and made it a much healthier version of a traditional carrot cupcakes recipe.
Serving Suggestions
Carrot Cake Cupcakes go well with a hot cup of coffee, cold glass of milk, or a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice cream!
Storage
Store these Carrot Cake Cupcakes in an airtight container on the counter up to 3 days, in the refrigerator up to 1 week, and in the freezer up to 3 months.
Related Recipes
Keto Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream
Keto Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Icing
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📖 Recipe
Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour , sifted
- 6 tablespoons sugar-free brown sugar sweetener , packed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 large eggs , lightly beaten
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 ounces ⅓ less fat cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons sugar-free maple syrup
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners or coat cups with cooking spray (use the spray without the flour).
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour through cloves and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, using a electric hand mixer, beat the eggs, applesauce, and oil, and vanilla extract together until combined. Stir in the shredded carrots. Pour the wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Scoop the batter into muffin cups using a ¼ cup sized scoop. Bake the cupcakes for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting
- In a small mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, combine the softened cream cheese and agave nectar until smooth. Spread on cupcake and garnish with desired toppings.
Pegasuslegend
Oh wow this sounds scrumptious!
Michele O'Donnell
I love carrot cake and I am a diabetic. Perfect!
Nupur
this is really a diebetic freindly recipe Shelby, love the icing decor on the cup cake..
Lizzy
So beautiful! And I appreciate having a lightened up version of my favorite!
Shelby
Thank you Lizzy!