Orange, lemon and carrot cupcakes are soft, moist and bursting with citrus flavor. Made with olive oil, these cupcakes are a breeze to put together. The perfect pick me up along with your cup of coffee on a grey winter day or anytime of year!


Orange, lemon and carrot cupcakes are inspired by torta ACE, a popular Italian dessert. The acronym ACE refers to vitamins A, C and E found in the orange, carrot and lemon in this recipe.
This recipe was inspired by the Italian beverage made with carrot, orange, and lemon juice that I fondly recall enjoying years ago! Have you ever tried it?
I'm not here to advocate on behalf of the nutritional content of these cupcakes, which if you are curious about, you can locate in my recipe card further below.
Instead, I'd like to convince you to make these carrot cupcakes because of the amazing aroma in your home as you zest and juice your orange and lemon and then the enticing scent emerging from your oven while they are baking!
The olive oil makes them incredibly moist, and best of all there is no butter and sugar that require creaming in this recipe. Once you've grated your carrots, zested and juiced your citrus, all there is left to do is stir together all the ingredients in one bowl and bake.
Winter is the ideal time to consume in season citrus fruit and these tasty little cupcakes are the perfect drab, winter day's pick me up.
Ingredient List
- Carrot: 1 large or 2 medium, grated to get 2 cups of carrots
- Orange: 1 medium, zested and juiced
- Lemon: 1 medium, zested and juiced
- Eggs: 2 large
- Granulated sugar
- Olive oil: may be replaced with avocado oil if you prefer
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Powdered sugar (optional) for serving
The following are step by step instructions with images to guide you through this recipe. Please scroll to the end of this post for the detailed printable recipe card.
Step by Step Instructions
1. Prepare the carrots, orange and lemon
-Peel and grate the carrot to get 2 cups grated carrots.
-Zest both the orange and lemon.
-Juice the orange and lemon to obtain ¼ cup each of orange and lemon juice.
2. Combine wet ingredients
-In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and olive oil until pale, thick and frothy. Stir in the vanilla, zest and juice of the orange and lemon.
-Use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir in the grated carrots.
3. Stir in dry ingredients
Add the all-purpose flour; baking powder and salt. Stir until there are no visible traces of flour left, do not over mix.
3. Bake
-Spoon the batter into a muffin pan lined with paper muffin liners. Fill until ¾ full.
-Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes.
-Cool and dust with powdered sugar (optional) before serving.
Recipe Notes
-If you prefer, you may use only oranges or lemons instead of a combination of both in this recipe.
-The olive oil may be replaced with avocado oil.
Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Freeze well wrapped in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
Did you try this recipe?
Let me know how much you enjoyed it by rating it in the recipe card below!
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Check out more recipes with citrus fruit!
- Sicilian Fennel and Orange Salad
- Orange Ciambella
- Nonna's Sponge Cake
- Italian Orange Juice Cookies
- Sicilian Anise Lemon Taralli
- Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Cake
- Lemon Vanilla Snack Cake
- Italian Lemon Glazed Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated carrots
- grated lemon zest of 1 lemon
- grated orange zest of 1 orange
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar (optional) for serving
Instructions
Prepare the carrots, orange and lemon
- Peel and grate the carrot to get 2 cups grated carrots.
- Zest both the orange and lemon.
- Juice the orange and lemon to obtain ¼ cup each of orange and lemon juice.
For the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners or silicone liners.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and olive oil until pale, thick and frothy.
- Stir in the vanilla, zest and juice of the orange and lemon.
- Use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir in the grated carrots.
- Add the all-purpose flour; baking powder and salt. Stir until there are no visible traces of flour left, do not over mix.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin pan until ¾ full.
- Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes.
- Let cool and dust with powdered sugar (optional) before serving.
Notes
-The olive oil may be replaced with avocado oil. Storage Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To Freeze Freeze well wrapped in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
Annie
This looks awesome, will definitely try this week! I just love all the ingredients. The only ACE I know from Italy is the cleaning product! Ha ha, Imwill have to investigate mire! Thanks so much for this recipe!
Annie
Nadia
Hi Annie, I knew about the drink but not about the cleaning product! I do hope you try them, I'm sure you will enjoy them!