Craving carrot cake, but not enough to feed 20 people? This mini carrot cake packs all the same deliciously moist and soft texture, orangey color, and sweet flavor as classic carrot cake. It's super easy to make but tastes just as good as store bought!
what makes this mini carrot cake so good?
- perfect serving size
- super moist and spongy
- easy to make
- fresh carrot flavor in every bite
- lightly flavored cream cheese frosting
grating the carrots
When it comes to grating carrots for carrot cake, the best side of a box grater to use is the very fine shred side. Having a finer grate to your carrots will offer the perfect amount of moisture to the cake and will allow the carrots to melt into perfectly soft bites when baked.
The larger shredder side isn't really great for carrot cake because a) the larger carrot pieces will not release as much liquid and will often lead to a drier cake, and b) large carrot pieces tend to retain a bit of a bite to them after baking and don't blend quite as seamlessly into the cake.
how to make mini carrot cake
1. Whisk together dry ingredients.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients.
3. Fold carrots into wet ingredients, then mix in dry ingredients. That's all there is to making the carrot cake batter!
4. Pour batter into a baking pan and bake.
5. Cool. Cool the cake for about 5 to 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely before frosting
6. Whip together cream cheese and butter for frosting.
7. Mix in remaining cream cheese frosting ingredients to combine.
8. (Optional) If you want to decorate the top of your cake with cute little carrots, separate out a tiny bit of frosting into 2 separate bowls. Color one of the frostings orange and the other frosting green. Transfer into piping bags or small plastic bags and cut off the tips.
9. Decorate! Spread the plain cream cheese frosting on top of your cooled cake, then pipe the little carrot designs.
tips
- carrots: Fresh carrots are best for making carrot cake!! Pre-shredded carrots are too dry to use and frozen carrots can water down your batter.
- flour: alwaysalwaysALWAYS measure flour either by weight or by spoon and leveling. Scooping the measuring cup straight from the bag of flour can pack in extra weight worth of flour and lead to a dry carrot cake!
- mixing: Once you combine your wet and dry ingredients, it's important to watch out for overmixing. Overmixed flour will push out any air bubbles and overwork the gluten, which results in a poor rise to the cake. This will lead to a dense and (again) dry carrot cake!
- add-ins: Feel free to include any of your favorite carrot cake add-ins like chopped walnuts, pistachios, or raisins. Mix them in with the wet ingredients before adding your flour to the batter. You can also add your favorite ground spices to the dry ingredients!
storage
Because this cake is topped with a cream cheese based frosting, it needs to be stored in the fridge. I like to chill the cake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the frosting has firmed up, then cover tightly with plastic wrap. The initial uncovered chill helps keep your frosting and designs intact! This cake will keep for 4 to 5 days.
The cold cake will firm up slightly. So if you don't want to serve your cake cold, set the cake out at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving to soften it up.
check out these other recipes!
• Small Batch Cheesecake
• Small Batch Brownies
• Small Batch Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lastly, if you made this or any of my recipes, be sure to leave a comment and review below! I love hearing your thoughts! Also tag me on Instagram @eatsdelightfulblog so I can see what you're making.
Print
Mini Carrot Cake Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 (8x8 inch) cake
Description
Craving carrot cake, but not enough to feed 20 people? This mini carrot cake packs all the same deliciously moist and soft texture, orangey color, and sweet flavor as classic carrot cake. It's super easy to make but tastes just as good as store bought!
Ingredients
For the carrot cake:
- 1 & ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour, spoon and leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar, light or dark
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (120mL) vegetable oil, or any neutral flavored oil *(see notes)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 & ¾ cup (175g) finely grated carrots (about 1 large or 2 medium sized carrots)
For the cream cheese frosting:
- ¼ cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 ounces (85g) block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 & ½ cups (325g) powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- green and orange gel food coloring (optional - for making the little carrot decorations)
- chopped walnuts (optional - for topping)
Instructions
Make the carrot cake:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8 inch pan, and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together both sugars, eggs, oil, and vanilla to combine. Add grated carrots and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix together until just combined. Take care not to overmix!
- Pour the carrot cake batter into your prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Bake in the center of your preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake for 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack. Set aside to cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
Make the cream cheese frosting:
- In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese. Mix together using a wooden spoon or spatula until combined and smooth.
- Add powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix together until the sugar is dissolved and the frosting is light and fluffy. If the frosting is too thick, you can thin it out with 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk. If the frosting is too soft, mix in up to ½ a cup of powdered sugar extra.
- (Optional) If you'd like to decorate the top of your carrot cake with little carrots, take out about 1 teaspoon of frosting and color green. Take out another 2 teaspoons of frosting and color orange. Transfer the colors into 2 separate small piping bags or plastic bags and snip a little hole off the tips.
- To decorate, spread all of the plain white cream cheese frosting over your cooled carrot cake. Pipe little carrots on top using your orange and green colored frostings, then sprinkle chopped walnuts on top. Keep stored in the fridge until ready to serve!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
* If you don't have vegetable oil on hand, other great alternatives include peanut, canola, and corn oil. I've found that olive oil can be a bit too strong in terms of flavor, so I wouldn't really recommend it. I also would avoid using all butter as I find it dries out the cake. If you want that buttery flavor, you can use ¼ cup melted butter + ¼ cup oil to get the best of both worlds!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Bake Time: 30 minutes
Enjoy!
Add a Comment