Mini Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Mini Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting is the perfect small-batch dessert for Easter and spring. It’s incredibly flavorful, packed with shredded carrots, crunchy walnuts, and warm spices in every bite. The brown butter cream cheese frosting takes it completely over the top—rich, nutty, and absolutely irresistible. So good! This recipe is a scaled-down twist on my Carrot Sheet Cake and classic three-layer Carrot Cake.

A Spicy Kitchen

Mini Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Mini Carrot Cake is the ultimate small-batch treat for Easter and spring. It’s packed with flavor—loaded with shredded carrots, crunchy walnuts, and just the right blend of warm spices. Topped with rich brown butter cream cheese frosting, it’s absolutely irresistible. So good!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 22 minutes mins

Decorating Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 57 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mediterranean, Mexican

Calories: 243

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Carrot Cake:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup neutral oil (such as avocado, grape seed oil or vegetable oil)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup buttermilk shaken
• 1 1/4 cups grated carrots
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter cubed
• 5 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups + 6 tablespoons powdered sugar divided
• 2 teaspoons heavy cream

Equipment

• 8×8 inch cake pan
• KitchenAid
• Stand-Up Mixer
• Silicon Spatulas
• Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
• Parchment Paper Sheets
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons

Method

 

To Make the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8×8-inch baking pan. I also like to line my baking pan with a parchment just to make sure nothing sticks.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ginger. Set the dry mixture aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment, add the butter, neutral oil, white sugar and brown sugar; beat until nice and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Crack in the eggs; beat until combined.
4. Alternating between the buttermilk and the dry mix, add them to the butter mixture, until just combined. Lastly, add the carrots and walnuts and mix until thoroughly distributed throughout the batter. Grab a spatula and scrape the bottom of the bowl just to make sure there aren’t any flour pockets.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and transfer to the oven to bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool before adding the frosting.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Cube up butter. In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, add the cubed butter. Once it’s melted, it will begin to foam up and bubble a bit. Allow it to cook until you begin to see lightly browned specks beginning to form. Give it a stir and cook until it’s browned. You should also start to smell its nutty aroma. Pour it in a freezer-safe bowl and stir to cool it down.
2. Transfer it to the freezer to chill, for about 10 minutes. We want it to be around room temperature butter. After it gets to that room temperature butter-firmness (it can be a bit softer—that’s ok), transfer it to the bowl of a stand-up mixer (or bowl using an electric mixer). Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth.
3. Sift in the 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Beat the frosting for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness from the heavy cream really lightens up this frosting so be sure to beat it for the full 2 minutes. If the frosting is too loose, feel free to transfer it to the fridge to chill for about 10 minutes. Then beat it one last time.

To Make Mini Frostings for Decoration (Very Optional)

1. Scoop out two tablespoons of frosting and add it to a small bowl. Repeat this with another two tablespoons of frosting. You’ll have two bowls of frosting.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar to each bowl (for a total of 6 tablespoons). And mix in it in. This will thicken up the frosting a bit so it’s easier to pipe.
3. Add two drops of orange food coloring gel to the first bowl. Mix. And then add two drops of green food coloring gel to the second bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined.
4. Divide the frostings amongst two piping bags fitted with #2 piping tip (a small round tip). Now, I did this on a small flower nail but it proved difficult to move. SO, I’m suggesting that you pipe the carrots directly onto the cake.

To Assemble the Cake:

1. Pour all of the frosting on the cooled sheet cake and spread it around, creating cute swoops as you go.
2. Using the orange color, add a squiggly line, attempting to make it resemble a carrot. (For more visual representation, look at my IG Highlights “Carrot Cake”) And then add the “carrot top” by taking the green colored frosting and piping on little lines.
3. Add as many or little carrots on top, as you like!
4. Cake will stay moist for about 3 to 4 days when wrapped properly.

Notes

Buttermilk Substitutions:
Milk + acid – You could use 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cow’s milk and mix it with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar OR lemon juice. Let it stand for 5 minutes, mix it up and use.
Kefir – In theory this should work. You can use the full 1/3 of a cup
Powdered Buttermilk – Most kitchens don’t have this but if you do, use it! Follow the directions on the back of the package that will give you 1/3 a cup of buttermilk.
Greek yogurt – You could use 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt and mix in enough water so it measures to a total of 1/3 of a cup.
8×8-inch Cake Pan Alternatives:
Option #1: You can use a single 9-inch round cake pan that’s 2-inches in height. Bake time will be about 5 minutes less. I would check it at the 25 minute mark.
Option #2: 9×5-inch loaf pan. Obviously it’ll now be a carrot loaf cake vs. looking like a cake! Bake time will likely be longer. I would check it at the 30 minute mark.

Option #3: Cupcakes! You can bake these as cupcakes. It’ll yield 6 cupcakes. Bake time will likely be shorter. I would check it at the 20 minute mark.