Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes

Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes are the best of both worlds in one delicious treat. Sweet flavorful carrot cake is baked side-by-side with rich and creamy vanilla cheesecake. Go over-the-top and frost these cupcakes with peach tinted vanilla cream cheese frosting. Although they might look complicated, they are easy to make and will impress everyone who doesn’t like to choose between their two favorite Spring desserts!

Carrot cake and cheesecake are two quintessential Springtime desserts and often requested by my family for our get-togethers. I was super excited to receive a recipe suggestion from my daughter for Swirled Carrot Cake Cheesecake Bars from Half Baked Harvest. If you don’t know about Tieghan Gerard’s amazing whole foods recipe website, check it out for endless flavorful ideas. These Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes are inspired by the wonderful Half Baked Harvest creation.

Begin by preparing a simplified carrot cake batter. My normal carrot cake cupcake batter is quite loaded with not so secret ingredients that make them worthy of the title Loaded Carrot Cake Cupcakes, but for this recipe a paired down version of carrot cake is a much better compliment to the cheesecake.

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Easy Carrot Cake

Simplified carrot cake loaded with flavor.

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded carrots

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cupcake or muffin tin with parchment paper liners.
• In medium bowl, add brown sugar to melted butter and stir together.
• Place brown sugar/butter mixture in mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Slowly mix in the eggs and vanilla and beat until completly blended.
• Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix until combined.
• Mix in cocunut and carrot and blend until combined.
• Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake approximately 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
• Cool completely before frosting.

Next prepare a smooth creamy cheesecake batter. I used a very basic foolproof cheesecake recipe that is super easy to make.

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Easy Cheesecake

Smooth and creamy vanilla cheesescake.

Ingredients

• 24 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 3 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

• Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Add sour cream and vanilla and beat until completly combined and smooth.
• With mixer on low speed, add eggs, one at a time and stir until completely combined.

Notes

Use only full fat cream cheese and sour cream.

Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature.  The cream cheese must be soft or you will end up with chunks of it in your batter.  

DO NOT OVER MIX/BEAT THE EGGS.  Only use a low speed when mixing the eggs into the batter or the consistency of your cheesecake will suffer 😩

Assemble the Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are ready to serve, very pretty and delicious plain without frosting or glaze. But lets be honest, traditionalist will grumble without at least a bit of cream cheese frosting on their carrot cake, even if it is married to cheesecake!

I’ve been experimenting with frosting flowers and coloring my frosting, so for this cupcake I found a cream cheese frosting that is good for that. There is a wealth of information about frosting and things on Sugar Geek Show, I encourage you to check it out.

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5 from 1 vote

Sturdy Cream Cheese Frosting

Strong and sturdy cream cheese frosting that is also delicious.

Servings: 10 cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 pounds confectioners sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

• In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.
• Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally to make sure all ingredients are combined completly.
• With mixer on medium/high, beat for approximately 8 minutes until smooth and fluffy.

I used a Wilton 2D frosting tip to frost a simple cream cheese flower onto these cupcakes. I had to ask my artist daughter how to create a peach color from my limited selection of gel food coloring. Did you know pink and yellow make peach, I didn’t. Although this frosting is sturdy enough to pipe, it is also totally delicious like most cream cheese frostings! The finished color, and decoration, is springy, pretty and coordinates perfectly with carrot cake/cheesecake. The perfect compliment to the perfect Spring cupcake.

check our some of my other celebratory cupcakes…