Mini Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

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This moist mini carrot cake recipe makes two 6-inch layers decorated with a swoon-worthy brown butter cream cheese frosting!

mini carrot cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting cut to reveal inside

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Ingredients
Instructions
FAQ
Other cake recipes you'll love
Baking in grams
💬 Reviews

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.

Ingredients

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.

Instructions

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.

brown butter cream cheese frosting in glass bowl

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.

cream cheese frosting spread onto first cake layer

two carrot cake layers with cream cheese frosting

6 inch carrot cake decorated with cream cheese frosting

small carrot cake with cream cheese frosting topped with pecans on white wooden board

FAQ

How to bake flat cakes:

Cakes may dome in the middle when they bake because the outside bakes faster than the center, so the center has more time to rise. This is not ideal for layer cakes, because it is a pain to have to trim away the top of the cake. The reverse creaming method helps with baking perfectly flat cake layers. But the best way to ensure your cake layers bake up flat rather than doming is to use cake strips. Soak the cake strips in cold water before wrapping around the outside of the cake pans. This will ensure that the outside of the cake does not bake faster than the center.

How to make a study, pipeable cream cheese frosting?

To make a cream cheese frosting that is smooth enough to decorate a cake, but sturdy enough to support thick cake layers I use 1 stick of butter for every ¾ block of cream cheese. Add as much or as little powdered sugar as you would like depending on your preference of sweetness. For this recipe, I suggest at least 2 ½ cups or 282g.

Can I make this cake ahead of time?

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.

small carrot cake recipe with brown butter cream cheese frosting topped with pecans

small carrot cake with two slices stacked

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Baking in grams

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. 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), I can ensure that you can make the recipe 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

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