This mini carrot cake is a sweetly spiced, extra soft, two-layer 6 inch cake with a brown butter cream cheese frosting. It's the perfect size when you don't have a whole crowd to feed!
This mini carrot cake is the perfect blend of sweet carrots, loads of spices and a flavorful frosting. I also have a chewy carrot cake cookie that has a similar flavor profile because I find it to be pretty perfect in the spring time.
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Why You Will Love This Cake
- Smaller Size: I love having a smaller recipe for when we need a cake for our family, but don't want a lot leftover. But if you want a larger size I also have a regular size carrot cake.
- Flavorful: Fresh carrots, lots of spices, browned butter and cream cheese give this cake so much flavor.
- Moist: The crumb of this cake is so soft, it practically melts in your mouth.
Ingredient Notes
Full ingredient measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card below.
- Sugars: You will use granulated sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar in this recipe.
- Oil: I love using coconut oil because I love the hint of coconut flavor it adds, but canola, vegetable or avocado would also be great.
- Carrots: You want to grate your carrots fine so they disperse all throughout the cake. And if you're left with extra carrots I'd highly suggest trying my easy banana carrot muffins.
- Butter: You will be browning the butter and then allowing it to firm back up after.
- Cream Cheese: I would highly suggest using full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese, it is a lot less watery than other cream cheeses.
Step by Step Instructions
STEP 1: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
STEP 2: Add oil, eggs, sugars and vanilla and mix all together.
STEP 3: Grate carrots with a cheese grater or food processor. Fold into cake batter.
STEP 4: Pour batter evenly into two 6-inch cake pans. This seems to weigh about 415g per pan for me. Bake for 28-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Transfer the baking pans to a wire cooling rack and let the cakes cool until they reach room temperature.
STEP 5: Take ½ cup of butter and melt in a medium saucepan, and then continue to cook past the point of boiling. You will do this over medium heat, past the point of the butter foaming, until it turns a nice golden brown, and has a nutty smell. Make sure you are stirring and watching it, because it will turn from perfectly brown to burnt fairly quickly. Once finished browning, pour into a bowl and place in the freezer until it firms up again. You want it to get to a temperature that feels like room temperature butter again.
STEP 6: Cream together browned butter and softened cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix again. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating in between each. If after adding all the powdered sugar you think its too thick, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of whipping cream or milk to get desired consistency.
STEP 7: Place one of the cake layers, top side up, on a cake plate or serving stand. Spread a small amount of frosting over the first layer. Place the remaining cake layer, top side down. Frost the entire cake, top and sides, with a thin crumb coat layer of the cream cheese frosting. Place in the fridge or freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill.
STEP 8: Pull the chilled cake out, and frost the cake with the remaining frosting.
Expert Baking Tips
- Cakes will have the best results if made with room temperature ingredients. I like to pull my eggs, cream cheese, and butter out of the fridge an hour or two before I start baking.
- You can either grate fresh carrots by hand with a box grater or grate them with a food processor by using the shredding disk.
- I know some people love nuts in their carrot cake, It will not affect the recipe if you wanted to add a cup of nuts. Or top the cake with some chopped pecans too for some added texture.
FAQ
Yes. After baking the cake layers, allow them to cool completely, then wrap them well in plastic wrap and stick each layer in a ziplock freezer bag. They can be frozen for a few months. I usually just pull them out of the freezer once I am starting to make my frosting, or an hour or two before I want to assemble.
I always peel my carrots before grating them.
This recipe can make 12 cupcakes instead. If doing this I would bake the cupcakes at 350 for 17-20 minutes.
Storing & Freezing
This mini carrot cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days while remaining fresh. You do not need to store it in the fridge.
You can store the whole cake, or individual slices wrapped tightly, in the freezer for 2-3 months. Just pull out and allow to thaw before eating.
Other Popular Recipes to Try
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Mini Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1½ cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) nutmeg
- ⅔ cup (157.73 ml) neutral oil I used coconut oil
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (110 g) brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1½ cups (192 g) carrots grated or finely shredded
Frosting:
- 6 oz (170.1 g) cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup (113.5 g) butter browned and chilled
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) salt
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of 2 six inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Add oil, eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla and mix all together. Fold in grated carrots.
- Pour batter evenly into two 6-inch cake pans. This seems to weigh about 415g per pan for me.
- Bake for 28-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Transfer the baking pans to a wire cooling rack and let the cakes cool until they reach room temperature.
To make the frosting:
- Take ½ cup of butter and melt in a medium saucepan, and then continue to cook past the point of boiling. You will do this over medium heat, past the point of the butter foaming, until it turns a nice golden brown, and has a nutty smell. Make sure you are stirring and watching it, because it will turn from perfectly brown to burnt fairly quickly. Once finished browning, pour into a bowl and place in the freezer until it firms up again. You want it to get to be a temperature that feels like room temperature butter again.
- Cream together browned butter and softened cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix again.
- Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating in between each. If after adding all the powdered sugar you think its too thick, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of whipping cream or milk to get desired consistency.
To assemble cake:
- Place one of the cake layers, top side up, on a cake plate or serving stand. Spread a small amount of frosting over the first layer.
- Place the remaining cake layer, top side down. Frost the entire cake, top and sides, with a thin crumb coat layer of the cream cheese frosting. Place in the fridge or freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill.
- Pull the chilled cake out, and frost the cake with the remaining frosting.
Sandy
I made this with Cup4Cup gluten free flour for a small gathering. It turned out so moist, tender and delicious and got rave reviews from our guests! I will definitely make this again. I didn’t have 6” pans so made it in a 1/4 sheet pan with the amazing browned butter cream cheese frosting! Fantastic!
Bailey
The perfect sized cake for a small get together!! And SO yummy!
Mikala
Made two of these small cakes and served them on Easter we had leftovers so I gave some to several neighbors everyone raved about how delicious it was! The frosting is to die for!
Brooke Homec
Yay!! I agree, I could sit and eat that frosting by the spoonful!