Mini Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

This small carrot cake recipe is just what you need when you're in the mood for cake, but still need to get your veggies in😉. This cake comes together in a flash - all you need are two bowls, a whisk, and a bit of patience as it bakes! It bakes up beautifully moist and packed full of warm spices. Oh and the brown butter cream cheese frosting?! You will be fighting the urge to eat it by the spoonful. It's so dang good. 

For more cake recipes, try Black Velvet Cake, Small Vanilla Cake, Lemon Blueberry Jam Cake, and Chocolate Tiramisu Cake.

Ingredient Notes

• All-Purpose Flour: You'll need about 2 ½ cups of flour.
• Leaveners: You'll need both baking powder and baking soda to give this cake the perfect rise.
• Spices: I used a combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
• Oil: Use any neutral oil, like vegetable, canola, or light tasting olive oil.
• Sugars: You'll need both granulated sugar and brown sugar to add the right amount of sweetness and moisture to this cake. 
• Eggs: You'll need 2 large eggs at room temperature.
• Freshly Grated Carrots: You'll need about 2 ¼ cups of carrots, which is roughly 4-5 large carrots.
• Nuts: Add chopped pecans or walnuts (or really any other extra) if you'd like!
• Cream Cheese: Be sure to use cold cream cheese when making the frosting.
• Brown Butter: You'll need 227g or 1 cup of solid, room temperature brown butter. Start with at least 270g of unsalted butter to make the brown butter. 
• Powdered Sugar: Add as much or as little powdered sugar as you would like depending on your preference of sweetness. I suggest no more than 3 cups or 340g.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this mini carrot cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.

Step 1: Make the cake batter as directed. 

Step 2: Bake the cakes for about 45 minutes. Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack.

Step 3: Make the brown butter cream cheese frosting as directed. I recommend making the brown butter the day before so it has time to solidify again. 

Step 4: Using a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop, spread 3 scoops of frosting to the first layer.

Step 5: Add the second cake layer on top and two more scoops of frosting.

Step 6: Finish decorating the cake as desired. I chose a semi-naked look, but there is enough frosting for a thicker layer on the sides. 

Expert Baking Tips

• If adding pecans, be sure to chop them very finely. Big pieces will make it a little difficult to cut the cake.
• For the brown butter, start with at least 270g of unsalted butter.
• Be sure to account for the time of waiting for the brown butter to re-solidify. I recommend making it the day before and chilling it in the fridge overnight.
• The frosting recipe does make enough if you'd like to decorate the cake with a thicker layer of frosting on the sides.
• You can make the cake layers the day before (or even earlier), then freeze them overnight, and decorate the next day. This allows you to skip the crumb coat and makes it so much easier to frost. Just leave the cake out for a couple hours at room temperature before serving.

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x