These moist carrot cake muffins are full of autumn flavours. They are perfect with a hot drink or to make as a special gift.
These carrot cake muffins were an absolute treat to make and came out how I wanted them to. This recipe came from several carrot cake recipes I saw online and my mum’s recipe too.
I wanted to make sure these muffins were moist, light and flavourful – and I can say this recipe hits the mark on all three!
I use coconut sugar as the sweetener in these muffins. Therefore the muffins have a lovely rich caramel flavour. The muffins also have a crunch from walnuts but these are optional in the recipe.
The secret to getting these muffins to be light is to use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the sugar and eggs together so they are light and fluffy. Then, to ensure the lightness is maintained in the batter, the oil, dry ingredients, nuts and carrots should be folded in.
For these muffins, I decided to put a classic cream cheese topping but with a twist. Instead of using normal icing sugar made from cane sugar, I used homemade powdered coconut sugar for the topping. Using this as the sweetener for the topping works well as it compliments the caramel flavour of the coconut sugar used in the muffins. Also, adding the cream cheese topping is entirely optional and the muffins are lovely without any topping too.
Moist Carrot Cake muffin Video
Here is the step-by-step video to make these delicious carrot cake muffins:
Tips for making these Carrot Cake muffins
1. The batter for the muffins does look thick and this is correct.
2. Don’t be tempted to skip using a hand beater or stand mixer to get as much air into the batter as possible – this really does help in the texture of these muffins.
3. Instead of coconut sugar, you can use regular white cane sugar or brown cane sugar.
4. Instead of avocado oil, you can use butter that is at room temperature or coconut oil. I would not use extra virgin olive oil in this recipe as it would add this taste to the muffins.
How long does the Carrot Cake muffins keep in the fridge and freezer?
The carrot cake muffins (either iced or not iced with the cream cheese frosting) would last in the fridge for up to 10 days.
If you want to freeze these muffins, this can be done but I suggest not adding the cream cheese frosting to the muffins when freezing. It can last in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Moist Carrot Cake muffins Recipe
The ingredients for the muffins are:
3/4 cup avocado oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cups organic coconut sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
1/4 tsp fine himalayan pink salt
1 cup organic self raising flour
3/4 tsp ground sweet cinnamon
1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and grated
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
The ingredients for the cream cheese frosting are:
200g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered coconut sugar, sifted
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans for garnishing the top of the muffins
How to make these Moist Carrot Cake muffins
1. With a hand beater or stand mixer, beat together the eggs and avocado oil until light and airy.
2. Add in the coconut sugar and beat again.
3. Add in the vanilla essence, lemon zest and orange zest and beat again just to combine into the ingredients that have already been mixed.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and cinnamon.
5. Add in the mixed dry ingredients in two parts into the liquid ingredients. Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by folding it in with a spatula.
When folding in the first half of the flour, you should stop when most of the dry ingredients are incorporated to avoid overmixing the batter.
When folding in the second half of the dry ingredients, be sure to mix from under the batter as well so all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
6. Add in the peeled carrots and chopped pecans into the batter and fold in with a spatula.
Below is how the batter should look when all the ingredients are incorporated.
7. To a muffin tray, add in muffin liners. Then, spoon in the batter into the lined muffin tray so the batter is equally distributed.
8. Bake the muffins at 175 C for 20 minutes. To test if the muffins are fully cooked through, when the top of the muffin is pressed down with your finger, the muffin should spring back – not remain depressed.
How to make the cream cheese frosting for the Carrot Cake muffins
1. With a hand beater or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy.
2. Add in the sifted powdered coconut sugar to the cream cheese and fold ingredients together with a spatula.
How to top the muffins with the cream cheese frosting
1. When the carrot cake muffins are fully cooled down, the muffins are then ready to be topped with the cream cheese frosting. Using a teaspoon of the frosting, spoon it onto the centre of the muffin and gently spread the frosting out to the sides of the muffin. More frosting can be added if needed.
2. Once the muffins are iced, it can then be garnished with the chopped pecan nuts. When the nuts are added to the top of the muffins, gently press them into the frosting so they don’t fall off when the muffins are moved.
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Moist Carrot cake muffins
These moist carrot cake muffins are full of autumn flavours. They are perfect with a hot drink or to make as a special gift.
Materials
- The ingredients for the muffins are:
- 3/4 cup avocado oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cups organic coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp orange zest (optional)
- 1/4 tsp fine himalayan pink salt
- 1 cup organic self raising flour
- 3/4 tsp ground sweet cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and grated
- 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
- The ingredients for the cream cheese frosting are:
- 200g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups powdered coconut sugar, sifted
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans for garnishing the top of the muffins
Instructions
1. With a hand beater or stand mixer, beat together the eggs and avocado oil until light and airy.
2. Add in the coconut sugar and beat again.
3. Add in the vanilla essence, lemon zest and orange zest and beat again just to combine into the ingredients that have already been mixed.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and cinnamon.
5. Add in the mixed dry ingredients in two parts into the liquid ingredients. Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by folding it in with a spatula. When folding in the first half of the flour, you should stop when most of the dry ingredients are incorporated to avoid overmixing the batter. When folding in the second half of the dry ingredients, be sure to mix from under the batter as well so all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
6. Add in the peeled carrots and chopped pecans into the batter and fold in with a spatula.
7. To a muffin tray, add in muffin liners. Then, spoon in the batter into the lined muffin tray so the batter is equally distributed.
8. Bake the muffins at 175 C for 20 minutes. To test if the muffins are fully cooked through, when the top of the muffin is
pressed down with your finger, the muffin should spring back - not remain depressed.
9. With a hand beater or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy.
10. Add in the sifted powdered coconut sugar to the cream cheese and fold ingredients together with a spatula.
11. When the carrot cake muffins are fully cooled down, the muffins are then ready to be topped with the cream cheese frosting. Using a teaspoon of the frosting, spoon it onto the centre of the muffin and gently spread the frosting out to the sides of the muffin. More frosting can be added if needed.
12. Once the muffins are iced, it can then be garnished with the chopped pecan nuts. When the nuts are added to the top of the muffins, gently press them into the frosting so they don't fall off when the muffins are moved.
Notes
- The batter for the muffins does look thick and this is correct.
- Don't be tempted to skip using a hand beater or stand mixer to get as much air into the batter as possible - this really does help in the texture of these muffins.
- Instead of coconut sugar, you can use regular white cane sugar or brown cane sugar.
- Instead of avocado oil, you can use butter that is at room temperature or coconut oil. I would not use extra virgin olive oil
in this recipe as it would add this taste to the muffins.
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