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–+ servings
A single slice of mini carrot cake on a plate with a fork in it.

Mini Carrot Cake

Brooke Homec
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!
5 from 8 votes
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 28 minutes
cooling 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 18 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 6
Calories 675 kcal

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.  

Notes

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.
Make Ahead Instructions: The frosting can easily be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a sealed container. Remove frosting from the fridge an hour before you’re ready to frost the cake, to give it time to come to room temperature.
Freezing Instructions: 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 have given both cups and grams as measurements. Grams will be more precise, especially when measuring flour. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, no problem! Just lightly spoon flour into your measuring cup to insure its not packed in there. Light and fluffy is the key.

Nutrition

Calories: 675kcalCarbohydrates: 78gProtein: 6gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 98mgSodium: 501mgPotassium: 173mgFiber: 1gSugar: 57gVitamin A: 4718IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 87mgIron: 2mg
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