Mini Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (no butter)
This mini carrot cake is made in an 8x8 baking pan and covered with a dreamy cream cheese frosting, all made without butter!
Servings: 9 slices
Calories: 453kcal
Equipment
- 8x8 baking pan
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup neutral oil vegetable, canola, or sunflower
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ¼ cups grated carrots
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup heavy cream cold
- ¾ cup cream cheese cold
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup neutral oil, 1 cup white sugar
- Fold in the flour, baking soda, salt and spices and mix until smooth, making sure there are no flour pockets. Add in the carrots and walnuts and fold together until combined.1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, 1 ¼ cups grated carrots, ½ cup walnuts chopped
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, a toothpick inserted should come out clean (or with just a few crumbs). Let cool for 15-20 minutes, then remove from the pans and let cool completely.
- In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, whisk the heavy cream, salt, sugar and vanilla on medium-low for 2 minutes. The sugar needs to have completely dissolved.⅓ cup granulated sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ cup heavy cream
- Increase the speed to high and whisk for 2 minutes, until it looks very thick like Greek yogurt.
- While the mixer is running on a low speed, add the cream cheese a tablespoon at a time. Turn off the mixer, and scrape the entire bowl to make sure no cream cheese is left on the side. Turn the speed to high, and whip for 3 minutes until smooth.¾ cup cream cheese
- Frost your cake and enjoy!
Video
Notes
My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way.
Cold Cream Cheese & Heavy Cream: make sure you keep the cream cheese and heavy cream in the fridge until you're ready to use them.
Carrots: Don't use pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store; they'll be too dry.
Oil: Use a neutral oil like sunflower oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil.
Nuts: Swap out the walnuts for an equal amount of pistachios or pecans.
Baking Pan: You can also use a 9-inch round baking pan instead of the 8x8 baking pan.
Salt: If you don’t have kosher salt, halve the amount of salt called for in the recipe. 1 teaspoon kosher salt = ½ teaspoon fine salt. Please note, I am using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt and not Morton Salt, which is a coarse kosher salt and much saltier.
Storage: keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 453kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 75mg | Sodium: 407mg | Potassium: 160mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 3480IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 1mg
