These delicious carrot cake muffins are lightly spiced and topped with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with walnuts, making them an irresistible breakfast treat!
Ok… ok!!!!! So I am becoming a little bit of a baker. I shared with you that delicious pumpkin bread a couple of weeks ago and not too long before that I shared those yummy cinnamon roll muffins that I made when Seth visited.
So I’ll confess, I kind of enjoy baking, but only when I have the time!
Let that be our little secret, ok?
These carrot cake muffins make eating carrot cake for breakfast possible without all the guilt that may come along with the very thought of cake for breakfast. Best of all, these carrot cake muffins come together in just minutes. In fact, I found the hardest thing about these muffins was allowing them too cool before frosting them.
Ingredients Needed
For the Muffins:
- The Dry Ingredients: granulated sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder
- The Wet Ingredients: canola oil or oil of choice, and eggs.
- Seasonings: cinnamon, and ground cloves
- Star Ingredient: shredded carrots
For the Topping:
- Creamy texture and goodness: unsalted butter and cream cheese
- Flavor: vanilla extract
- Sweetness: powdered sugar
- Binder: heavy cream
- Texture: chopped walnuts
How To Make Carrot Cake Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper cups or grease lightly. Set aside.
- Whisk the sugar, oil, and eggs together in a large bowl, mix well to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix until fully combined. It’s important to combine the ingredients well but do not over mix. Fold in carrots with a large spoon to combine.
- Fill each muffin cup about ⅔ of the way full of batter, leaving any remaining cups empty.
- Bake the muffins 20 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool about 5 to 10 minutes in the tin, then remove the muffins from the pan onto a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting. (That’s the hardest part!)
Make the Topping:
To make the frosting, add the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, and heavy cream in a small bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.
Top each muffin with the cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Recipe Notes:
Take out the cream cheese and butter to soften before preparing the muffins.
Chopped Pecans can be substituted for walnuts.
One of David’s favorite desserts is the Ultimate Carrot Cake I make for him from time to time, so you can imagine how these carrot cake muffins went over with him. He and his sweet teeth enjoyed them greatly!
I hope you and your sweet teeth enjoy these muffins just as much. With the holidays coming up, these carrot cake muffins will be a win for breakfast in your house this holiday season!
Enjoy!
Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
The Muffins:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- a pinch ground cloves
- 1 cup shredded carrots
The Topping:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
Make the Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper cups or grease lightly. Set aside.
- Whisk the sugar, oil, and eggs together in a large bowl, mix well to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix until fully combined. It’s important to combine the ingredients well but do not over mix. Fold in carrots with a large spoon to combine.
- Fill each muffin cup about ⅔ of the way full of batter, leaving any remaining cups empty.
- Bake the muffins 20 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan onto a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.
Make the Topping:
- To make the frosting, add the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and heavy cream in a small bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.
- Top each muffin with the cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Debbie - Mountain Mama says
Mountain Sister, you’re killing me!! Ok these are HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sweetie will love to have one of these with coffee in the mornings, and I can bring some to Mom and Dad also which will at least mean I eat LESS of them!! 🙂
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks Debbie! Enjoy them we sure did….all of them! ?
Rachel says
Oh, mama, I NEED these!!!! I am trying to up my baking game this fall/winter. I’m going to need your help!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Haha! I will help you if I can, but I’m not the greatest…lol! ?
Dana @ IveGotCake says
Mmmm I want these muffins!!
Send me some for thanksgiving!!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Will do, girl! Send me you address!
Julie is Hostess At Heart says
I was going to say your starting to resemble a baker! I love everything about these delicious muffins and they would be so good with a cup of java!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thank you Julie! 🙂
Betsy Maness says
I’ve made these as muffins before and they were delicious! I’m wondering what modifications I would need to make to make these in a bread pan?
The Mountain Kitchen says
Hi Betsy! Hummmm… I have never done the recipe in a loaf pan, but it is a great idea! I guess I would grease the loaf pan and maybe line it with parchment so it pops out easier. I would also think it would need to bake a lot longer. I would say bump the oven temp up to 325 degrees F to offset some of the time. Bake for 30 minutes and then check to see how it is coming along… maybe stab it with a toothpick if needed. If it is still wiggling then do 5 to 10-minute increments checking for doneness at the end of each time. I wish this was my fulltime job because I would love to test this recipe for you. Good luck!