[⏱️ Prep: 15 mins | 🔥 Cook: 25 mins | ❄️ Chill: 30 mins | 🥞 Servings: 12 | ⚖️ Calories: ~250 kcal]
These little carrot cakes are super soft, extra moist, and honestly the best carrot cakes you will ever have. The soft and moist carrots, along with that crunch of chopped walnuts and the perfect mix of spices, make them the ultimate comforting sweet treat.
And the best part is that it’s super simple and easy to make! This is a quick one-bowl recipe, and you can make it in just three steps: we’ll mix the batter, scoop, and bake. These make the perfect little dessert for sharing with friends and family, or just treating yourself on a cozy afternoon.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Super Soft & Extra Moist: Adding brown sugar and sunflower oil gives the cake incredible moisture and a tiny hint of caramel taste.
- One-Bowl Wonder: Less dishes to wash! We just mix the wet ingredients, sift in the dry, and fold. It takes less than five minutes to make the batter.
- That Amazing Cream Cheese Frosting: It’s not overly sweet, which perfectly complements the spiced flavor of the carrot cake. Adding a little milk lets you get the exact consistency you want.
- Perfectly Spiced: Freshly grated nutmeg and a hit of cinnamon make your kitchen smell absolutely amazing while these bake.
If you love these spiced mini cakes, also try my Delicious High-Protein Lemon Blueberry Pancakes for a bright breakfast twist!
What You’ll Need
Special Equipment
- Box grater (for fresh carrots)
- Sieve or fine-mesh strainer
- Spatula and whisk
- Mini cake tins or standard muffin pan
- Hand mixer or stand mixer (for the frosting)
For the Carrot Cakes
- 140ml (120g) sunflower oil (or any neutral oil)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 130g (⅔ cup) soft brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 130g (1 cup) all-purpose flour, loosely packed
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best!)
- Pinch of salt
- 200g (1¾ cups) freshly grated carrots
- 75g (½ cup) chopped walnuts or pecans
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 80g (3 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 30g (2 tbsp) butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 125g (1 cup) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp milk (optional, to thin the frosting)
Let’s Get Baking!
1. Prep & Grate (Crucial Tip!)
Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease your mini cake tins or line a standard muffin pan with paper liners. Go ahead and chop your walnuts, and grate your carrots.
Pro Tip: I highly recommend grating your carrots fresh at home! Store-bought pre-shredded carrots are very dry and quite thick. Grating them fresh ensures they release their moisture into the batter, which is the secret to a super soft cake.
2. Mix the Wet Ingredients
It’s so easy to make the batter. Into a large bowl, let’s add in all our wet ingredients: the sunflower oil (any neutral oil works!), the two eggs, and the soft brown sugar. You can totally use white sugar as well, or a mix of both, but that brown sugar is the secret to keeping things moist. Add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract for flavor, then whisk and combine them all together to form a smooth mixture.
3. Sift the Dry Ingredients
Now let’s add in all our dry ingredients right into the same bowl: place a sieve over your wet ingredient bowl and sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness, and the nutmeg. Sifting ensures there won’t be any lumps and everything will get evenly distributed.
Note: I highly recommend grating fresh nutmeg here—it smells so good!
4. Combine (Don’t Over-Mix!)
Using a spatula, mix and combine them all together. Take care not to over-mix the batter after adding the flour! That can make our cake dense and heavy. Just mix it gently until you see everything is just combined and there are no more dry flour streaks.
5. Fold in the Carrots & Walnuts
Finally, add the freshly grated carrots and chopped walnuts. Again, take care not to over-mix. Fold it gently until you see everything is evenly distributed.
6. Time to Scoop & Bake
Now scoop and pour the batter into your mini cake tins or standard muffin pans! My scoop size is about two tablespoons, and I fill each mold halfway so the cakes have enough room to rise nicely.
(By the way, you can use the same recipe in a 7-inch round pan or 5×7 rectangular pan, too!)
Pop them into your preheated oven for 24 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (with a few moist crumbs OK).
7. Cool Completely
After baking, let the cakes sit in the tray for about five minutes, then unmold them. Let them cool down completely on a wire rack so the frosting doesn’t melt off!
If you love carrot cake vibes, also try my Carrot Cake loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting while these cool—same frosting magic!
8. The Dreamy Cream Cheese Frosting
In the meantime, let’s make the cream cheese frosting. Into a bowl, add your room-temperature cream cheese and butter. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for flavor, and cream it with a mixer until it’s light and fluffy.
Then, add the powdered sugar little by little until smooth. If you want a thicker consistency (like a thick pipeable frosting), you can add more powdered sugar. I personally like mine slightly thinner, so I add a teaspoon of milk to thin it out perfectly.
9. Frost and Enjoy
Once the cakes are completely cool, just spread or pipe that dreamy frosting right on top of the cakes! In just three steps, you will have the most delightful bakery-style carrot cakes right at home. I really hope you try these and enjoy them as much as I do!
If you love these handheld treats, also try my Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies: A Beautiful Sweet Treat for more carrot cake fun.
Craving more spiced bakes? Check out the links above and let me know your faves!
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FAQs
Can I use white sugar instead of brown sugar?
You can definitely use white sugar, or a mix of both! However, using soft brown sugar adds extra moisture to the batter and gives the cake a wonderful, subtle caramel taste that pairs perfectly with the spices.
Can I use pre-shredded carrots from the store?
I highly recommend grating your carrots fresh at home! Store-bought pre-shredded carrots are very dry and quite thick. Grating them fresh ensures they release their moisture into the batter, which is the secret to a super soft cake.
Can I bake this as a full-sized cake instead of mini cakes?
Yes! This exact batter fits perfectly into a 7-inch round cake pan or a 5×7-inch rectangular baking dish. Just keep an eye on it in the oven, as a larger cake will likely need closer to 30–35 minutes to bake all the way through.
How do I store carrot cake with cream cheese frosting?
Because of the dairy in the cream cheese frosting, you’ll need to store these in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep well for up to 5 days. Before eating, let them sit at room temperature for about 10–15 minutes to soften up—they actually taste even better the second day!
Why did my cake turn out dense?
The most common reason for a dense carrot cake is over-mixing the batter! Once you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, fold it gently with a spatula just until everything is combined. As soon as you no longer see dry flour streaks, stop mixing.
Seriously the Best Mini Carrot Cakes
Course: DessertCuisine: American BakingDifficulty: Easy12
mini cakes15
minutes25
minutes250
kcal30
minutes1
hour10
minutesSuper soft, extra moist, and perfectly spiced mini carrot cakes loaded with fresh carrots and crunchy walnuts, topped with a dreamy, not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. Made in just one bowl!
Ingredients
- Equipment Needed
Box grater (for fresh carrots)
Sieve or fine-mesh strainer
Spatula and whisk
Mini cake tins or standard muffin pan
Hand mixer (for frosting)
- Ingredients
- For the Cakes:
140 ml sunflower oil (~120g; or neutral oil)
2 large eggs, room temperature
130 g soft brown sugar (~⅔ cup)
½ tsp vanilla extract
130 g all-purpose flour (1 cup, loosely packed)
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg (freshly grated preferred)
Pinch of salt
200 g freshly grated carrots (1¾ cups)
75 g chopped walnuts or pecans (½ cup)
- For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
80 g (3 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g powdered sugar (1 cup)
1 tsp milk (optional, for thinning)
Directions
- Preheat & Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease mini cake tins or line muffin pan with liners. Chop walnuts and grate carrots fresh (don’t use pre-shredded).
- Wet Ingredients: In large bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy (~1 minute).
- Sift Dry: Place sieve over bowl. Sift in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt.
- Combine Gently: Using spatula, fold dry into wet just until combined—no flour streaks visible. Don’t over-mix (prevents dense texture).
- Fold Add-Ins: Gently fold in grated carrots and walnuts until evenly distributed.
- Fill & Bake: Scoop ~2 tbsp batter per mold (fill halfway). Bake 24–26 minutes until toothpick is clean (few moist crumbs OK). Rotate pan halfway for even baking.
- Cool: Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Cool completely (~30 min) before frosting.
- Frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla until fluffy (~2 min). Gradually add powdered sugar. Thin with milk if needed for spreadable consistency.
- Frost: Spread or pipe on cooled cakes.
Notes
- Grating the Carrots: Always use fresh carrots and grate them yourself! Pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store are too dry and won’t give you that super soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure your cream cheese and butter are totally at room temperature before making the frosting, otherwise it will be lumpy!
- Sugar Swaps: You can use white sugar if you’re in a pinch, but the brown sugar is what gives this cake its deep moisture and hint of caramel flavor.
- Storage: Because of the cream cheese frosting, store any leftover mini cakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. They actually taste incredibly moist and delicious on day two!
