Why they’re so good!
These super cute, mini carrot cakes are the perfect individual yet indulgent treat. Super moist and soft, they’re so easy to make and topped with the classic cream cheese frosting.
Loaded with flavour, these mini layer cakes are studded with pecans, finely shredded carrot and have the perfect blend of spices to be cosy and tasty but not overwhelming.
Adapted from my carrot cake muffins, though the recipe changed quite a bit throughout the process, every bite will leave you craving more. They’re great for parties or a birthday celebration or even for Easter.
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Carrot cake ingredients
There are so many variations on carrot cakes these days; some with coconut, some with raisins, some with pineapple, some with nuts but of course all of them need carrot. Even the spices can be varied and numerous. I keep my recipe quite simple with just the nuts added but you can add things like coconut and raisins or change the nuts to your hearts content.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Plain flour: You may know this as all purpose flour.
- Baking powder and baking soda: A combination of both baking powder and baking soda gives these mini carrot cakes lift and keeps them fluffy too. Adding the baking soda helps to soften the carrots as they bake and also helps to create the perfect level top for frosting.
- Spices: I use cinnamon, ginger and just a little salt here. You can add ground cloves or ground nutmeg too in small amounts like 1/4 teaspoon.
- Oil and butter: Another combo here are the fats. The oil keeps the cakes tender while the butter adds flavour and necessary texture without the carrot cakes becoming greasy at all. Butter is also used in the frosting.
- Sugar: The cakes themselves contain both white sugar and light brown sugar. You can swap the latter for dark brown sugar if you like. The frosting uses the classic icing sugar (powdered sugar).
- Eggs: Just regular large eggs for these.
- Vanilla: I use vanilla extract in both the cakes and the frosting. In fact, I use vanilla bean paste in the frosting since I always have it on hand and I love the little black flecks but vanilla extract is fine.
- Carrots: Well you can’t have carrot cake without carrots. I use two medium carrots, which equates to roughly 200g / 7oz of finely grated carrot.
- Pecans: I use pecans in these mini carrot cakes but I use pistachios in my carrot cake muffins. Both are great and you can use other nuts too. Walnuts are always fantastic but you can go for creamier and firmer nuts too like cashews, hazelnuts, almonds or macadamias – just make sure you chop them finely, or use your food processor.
- Cream cheese: Stick to full-fat cream cheese as the light versions tend not to set up as nicely and you’ll need a lot more sugar to stiffen your cream cheese frosting.
- Cream: I also use some thickened cream (heavy cream) or whipping cream in the frosting. Just a little bit will soften and make your frosting a little fluffier. It also makes it a touch looser so feel free to leave it out if you want a stiffer frosting.
How to make carrot cakes
These individual carrot cakes are incredibly easy to make. I use a mini cheesecake pan to make these and to get those perfectly flat sides but if you don’t have one or don’t feel like buying one, just use a muffin pan (you’ll need to use all 12 holes if you choose this option) and you’ll essentially be making carrot cake cupcakes.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Mix the dry ingredients
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices in a bowl.
2. The wet ingredients
Whisk together the butter, oil and sugars in a large mixing bowl until combined. Next, whisk in the eggs, one at a time until each is fully incorporated and finally, add the vanilla.
3. Combine the two mixtures
Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until almost fully combined. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture.
4. The add-ins
Now stir in the carrot and nuts. I use the fine side of a box grater to grate the carrots. You can also use your food processor, either the grating blade or just the regular blade until it’s almost breadcrumb size.
5. Portion and bake
Divide the mini carrot cake batter between the holes of your mini cheesecake pan – I use a large ice cream scoop to make this easier.
6. The cream cheese frosting
The frosting is easy to make too. I use a stand mixer but you can use a electric hand mixer.
Just start by beating together the butter, cream cheese and a little of the sugar until combined and fluffy-looking. Now add the remaining sugar, salt and vanilla and beat that in for a minute or two, finishing by beating in the cream.
7. Assembling your mini carrot cakes
Once the cakes cool, just slice them in half through the middle with a serrated knife to create two layers. On the bottom carrot cake layer, pipe or spoon a dollop of the frosting and spread it out a little, not going all the way to the sides. Now add a slightly bigger dollop of frosting to the top of each and spread that out too. I like to sprinkle over some roughly chopped pecans to finish them off.
Storage
If you have any leftover mini carrot cakes, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Let them come to room temperature before serving. They can also be frozen, simply in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Let them thaw in the fridge overnight for best results.
FAQ’s
Many recipes stick just to oil for carrot cakes for no other reason than that they have a lot of flavour without adding more by introducing butter. However, I like the nuttiness that butter adds so I use a small amount of butter along with the oil in this carrot cake recipe
If you bake a carrot cake that sinks in the middle there could be a number of reasons for this. It could be that the recipe you’re using has too much moisture in it or too much leavener causing it to rise too quickly then fall either later in the baking process or after being removed from the oven. It could be that you were a bit heavy handed when turning the cakes in the oven or you opened the oven too early.
This could be due to too much moisture in the recipe you’re using or it’s just underbaked. Test the carrot cake is baked through by poking a toothpick into the centre. It should come out with just a couple of crumbs attached.
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Ingredients
FOR THE MINI CARROT CAKES
- 1 ½ cups plain flour all-purp flour (195g / ~7oz)
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (bicarb soda)
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup neutral flavoured vegetable oil
- 57 g unsalted butter, melted (¼ cup / 2oz)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed (150g / 5.3oz)
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar (150g / 5.3oz)
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 medium carrots, finely grated (200g/7oz)
- ½ cup pecans, finely chopped (60g / 2oz)
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 226 g unsalted butter, softened (1 cup / 2 sticks)
- 250 g full fat cream cheese, softened (8oz is fine)
- 390 g icing sugar (powdered sugar) (3 cups / 10 ½ oz)
- 2 tablespoons whipping cream (40ml), notes 1
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Whisk and rubber spatula
- Large ice cream scoop, optional
Instructions
- FOR THE MINI CARROT CAKES: Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Grease and flour 9 holes of a non stick mini cheesecake pan. Drop in the removable bases and set aside. Optionally, grease and flour all holes of a regular 12 hole muffin pan.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger until well mixed.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the oil, melted butter and sugars until smooth. Whisk in the eggs 1 at a time only adding the next once the last one is incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla.
- Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix in gently with a spatula until just incorporated. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture.
- Finally, gently mix in the finely grated carrot and chopped pecans.
- Portion the carrot cake batter out evenly between the 9 holes of your mini cake pan. I find a large ice cream scoop helps. If using a muffin pan, only fill up to ⅔ full.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out with just a crumb or two attached.
- Let them cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan (or until just cool enough to handle) then carefully release from the pan by pressing up on the bases from underneath and very gently grabbing with the other hand – be careful as they’ll be delicate. Transfer them to a wire cooling rack.
- Now use an offset spatula or very thin knife blade to slide between the cake and the bases to remove them and allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.
- FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese, along with ½ cup of the icing sugar to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat just a minute or so until smooth and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and salt, then add the remaining icing sugar ½ at a time, beating on low just to combine. Give it a good beat on medium for 2 minutes.
- Slowly drizzle in the cream as it’s beating on low and when incorporated turn the mixer up to medium-high speed for 1 minute until it’s looking whipped.
- ASSEMBLING THE CARROT CAKES: Once the carrot cakes have cooled, slice them in half so they each have 2 layers.
- Transfer the whipped cream cheese frosting to a piping bag with a large round nozzle attached. Pipe a dollop on the bottom layer of each cake and spread with a offset spatula or teaspoon. Place the tops on the cakes and pipe a slightly larger dollop on top. Swirl with a spatula or spoon again. Sprinkle with some extra crushed pecans if you like and serve or chill in an airtight container. Make sure to serve at room temperature.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- You can use your food processor to finely grate/chop your carrots and pecans using the grater blade or the regular blade. If using the regular blade, process the carrots until quite fine, then add the pecans and pulse until you have a breadcrumb like texture.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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3 Comments on “Mini Carrot Cakes”
Fantastic site A lot of helpful info here Im sending it to some buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious And naturally thanks on your sweat
Hi Marie, I’m wondering if the amount of 180 ml is correct for 2 tablespoons of thickened cream?
Hi Helen. Oops, definitely not – now that’s a serious typo. All fixed now. Thank you so much for letting me know.