These Carrot Cake Muffins make it acceptable to have carrot cake for breakfast! Just in time for Easter (I hear bunnies like carrots) I am sharing a recipe for moist homemade carrot cake muffins with a cream cheese swirl.
Spring is in the air and I have been seeing cake cake all over the interwebs. Instead of making carrot cake, I transformed carrot cake into carrot cake muffins. These carrot cake muffins are made with plenty of carrot seasoned with cinnamon, vanilla, and a touch of nutmeg. The result is a moist flavorful muffin. The finishing touch is adding a swirl of sweetened cream cheese on the top of the cupcakes before cupcakes go in the oven to bake.
One summer my sister went crazy for carrot cake. She made batch after batch working to perfect her recipe. Once I remember seeing my brother reach into the fridge and just grabbed a handful of cake and ate it.
Last summer I went crazy for muffins making batch after batch until I figured out the perfect flour to baking soda or baking powder ratio, and the idea baking temperature. My sister’s carrot cake obsession and my muffin perfectionism came together to create this Carrot Cake Muffin recipe.
Whenever I see carrot cake on a menu I have one question: Does it have raisins? The server never seems to know, and during the time I wait for the server to return with an answer I hope that the answer is no. I did not add raisins to my carrot cake muffins, but if you love raisins, go ahead and add them in.
I was lucky enough to be gifted KitchenAid’s new 7 cup Food Processor, and it is the first food processor I have ever owned. And it certainly made the process of grating 2 cups of carrot much easier. While my knowledge of food processors is extremely limited, I can say that this one is really easy to use and clean, and it has earned a spot on my counter. So thanks KitchenAid, you made making these carrot cake muffins much easier, which means that I can make them more often!
How to bake Carrot Cake Muffins:
Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons Butter softened
- ⅓ cup ⅓ less fat Cream Cheese softened
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg White
- 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup Buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons Flour for tossing the carrot
- 2 cups Grated Carrots
- ½ cup Chopped Walnuts
- 1 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
For the Cream Cheese Swirls:
- 3 ounces Cream Cheese softened
- 3 tablespoons Powdered Sugar
Plus for the topping:
- 1 tablespoon Butter melted
- 1 tablespoon Raw Sugar
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 425 degrees. Fill a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners. Then use an electric mixer to combine the butter and cream cheese. Once well mixed, add the granulated sugar and mix on a medium high speed until the mixture is fluffy. This will take about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, egg white, and vanilla and beat until it is just combined with the butter, cream cheese, and sugar mixture.
- In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup and 3 tablespoons flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Remove the bowl of the electric mixer, you want to fold everything together by hand. Stir in a third of the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, another third of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk, and then the remaining flour mixture. Fold together until it is just mixed - don't over mix. Let the batter sit for 15 minutes.
- While the batter is sitting, combine the carrot, nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and 2 tablespoons flour.
- Then prepare the cream cheese swirl mixture by whisking the cream cheese and powdered sugar together.
- After the batter has rested for 15 minutes, fold in the carrot mixture.
- Pour the batter into 12 muffin liners, filling them all the way to the top. Then spoon about 2 teaspoons of the cream cheese mixture on top of the muffins and use a knife to swirl it into the muffin batter.
- Then top each muffin with the melted butter and raw sugar.
- Turn your oven light on, and place the muffins in the oven to bake. It will take 10-12 minutes for the muffins to rise and the muffin tops to brown. At this point, reduce the heat to 350 degrees (don't open the oven though). Let bake for another 5-7 minutes.
- Remove the muffins from the oven, let cool for 2 minutes, and then place the muffins on their side on a towel to finish cooling. This prevents the muffin tops for sinking as they cool.
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