Mini Carrot Cake Loaves

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I absolutely love Easter. Why do you ask? It means spring has arrived! Spring is full of life bursting through those winter grey days! Now everything seems a little brighter and everyone is a little happier! Me included! I spend my days walking around town with a big smile on my face as it seems every corner store is full of bright coloured tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. I’m jumping at any opportunity to invite friends over and enjoy a meal in the backyard or at the cottage as soon as the weather gets a little nicer.

Of course, another reason I love spring is the cooking and baking.  New inspirations flow with the change of season and it feels like Easter is the starting point for this.  Spring means lighter meals with vibrant colours, cooking with fresh asparagus, rhubarb, and fiddleheads start to make an appearance.

I’m excited to try new recipes to share with friends. I thought the perfect dessert for Easter would be a classic that feeds a crowd! These mini carrot cake loaves are the sweetest little cakes to finish off a spring celebration of any kind. They are topped with light fluffy, lemon cream cheese icing and chopped pecans. Each cake is filled with crushed pineapple, raisins, cinnamon and ginger – of course carrots and more pecans! I love the size of these mini carrot cake loaves as they look adorable on their own – perfect for a place setting for Easter!

Ingredients

When it comes to this recipe you’ll want to double check that you have all of your ingredients as the list is long. That’s what makes these mini carrot cakes so delicious – it’s loaded with lots of goodies!

• Brown sugar and powdered sugar
• Vegetable oil
• Eggs
• Cake & pastry flour
• Baking powder and baking soda
• Spices – ground cinnamon and ginger
• Grated/shredded carrots
• Pecans
• Golden raisins
• Crushed pineapple
• Cream cheese
• Unsalted butter
• Lemon
• Vanilla extract

Variations

If you don’t have mini loaf pans, not to worry you can make them into cupcakes or even a large cake. I often use this recipe to make a 2 layered cake as well.

• Sheet cake
• Cupcakes
• 2 layered cake

Tips on How To Make Carrot Cake Loaves

1. The best and easiest way to grate carrots is to use a food processor. Simply add the grating tool attachment and feed full carrots through the top.
2. Stay away from using baby carrots as they seem to have more moisture in them and the flavour isn’t as strong.
3. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature before starting the recipe. Room temperature ingredients will mix more easily, which will result in perfect loaves.
4. Use a fork to scoop out the crushed pineapple from the can. This will allow a little juice to be transferred but you’ll get mostly pineapple. You don’t want to completely drain the pineapple of all its juices.
5. Be very careful not to overmix the batter as this will cause a tough and dense loaf.
6. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter into each loaf. Make sure to grease or line the cups before adding the batter.

How to Make Mini Carrot Cake Muffins

Step One: Prep your carrots by grating or using a food processor with the grating blade, set carrots aside. Beat brown sugar, oil and eggs using a stand mixer until pale in colour. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to the egg mixture. Mix just until combined.

Step Two: Mix carrots, pecans, raisins, and crushed pineapple together. Then add your carrot mixture to your flour/egg mixture, mix just until combined. Spoon batter into mini loaf pans about 3/4 full and bake.

Step Three: Meanwhile, make your cream cheese icing. Once the loaves have cooled completely ice the tops and add chopped pecans to the tops of each loaf.

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