Carrot Muffins with Cream Cheese Glaze #MuffinMonday

These delicious carrot muffins have all the flavor of tender carrot cake but are made with the two-bowl method traditional for muffins and are topped with generous lashing of sweetened cream cheese. 

A great Easter breakfast or brunch idea
With Easter Sunday less than a week away, you might be looking for a great breakfast or brunch recipe so I thought I’d share my muffin take on carrot cake since carrot muffins are perfect for the occasion. These little guys could also serve as dessert, although they are less sweet than actual carrot cake - a plus for those who have been eating their fair share of Easter candy.

How to make your family happy first thing in the morning
The night before I want to serve muffins for breakfast, I like to mix all my wet ingredients together, cover the bowl with cling film and pop it in the refrigerator. Then I mix all of my dry ingredients in a bigger bowl, cover with cling film and leave at the ready near the oven. When I get up in the morning, I turn the oven on to preheat and prepare my muffin pan. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix and bake. The glaze can be made ahead of time as well and refrigerated. This prep ahead method particularly handy on holidays or even on busy school mornings when everyone is trying to get out of the house on time. After all, muffins are fabulously portable.

Or mix and bake them right away. If you've been craving carrot cake, that might be the best plan.

Ingredients
For the muffins:
8 oz or 225g carrots – weight before peeling and cutting off stem ends
2 cups or 250g flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup or 115g butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup or 160ml milk

For the cream cheese glaze:
1/4 cup or 65g cream cheese spread, at room temperature
1/4 cup or about 30g powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons milk

Method
Peel your carrots and cut them into short lengths. Discard the green stem ends if any. Boil until tender then drain. Mash with a potato masher until fairly smooth.  Set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350°f or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the eggs, melted butter, cooled mashed carrots and milk.  Mix thoroughly.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just mixed.

Divide the thick batter between the muffin cups in your prepared pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the glaze, mix the cream cheese spread with the powdered sugar, vanilla and one teaspoon of milk. Stir well. Add the second teaspoon of milk if necessary to get a good drizzling or piping consistency, depending on how you want to apply it. Make it thinner for drizzling, thicker for piping.

When your muffins are cool, drizzle or pipe on the cream cheese glaze. I used a plastic bag with the corner cut off.

Enjoy!

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David’s Carrot Cake

The carrot cake that makes carrot lovers out of carrot haters! The main ingredient is boiled then mashed, creating a moist cake without obvious carrot bits but loads of flavor. Top with cream cheese icing!

We call this David’s Carrot Cake because we were first introduced to it by my dear friend, Jacky, when she made it for her son’s birthday, way back when we were living in Brazil, probably circa 1996 or 1997. We made a lot of fancy cakes back then but this one didn’t need decorations or specially shaped pans to make it great. The cake, with cream cheese frosting, is enough. It has single-handedly converted more than a few non-carrot eaters to lovers. Jacky got so many requests for the recipe that I ended up printing it in the little school newsletter I put out periodically for parents and teachers. The title was, of course, David’s Carrot Cake.

If you have been reading along for a while or at least since last March, or June before last, you know that at our house the birthday girl or boy gets to choose the cake and the evening meal. My younger daughter has requested the carrot cake for every birthday for a very long time so this makes AT LEAST one appearance at our house every year. But it often makes many more. Today is the day that my baby begins her final year as a teenager. Happy 19th birthday, sweet thing!

 

She was so tiny once.  Just like a baby doll.  And that's her sister, smug smile and all, holding the real baby doll.

Ingredients

2 eggs at room temperature

2 cups or 400g sugar

1 cup or 240 ml light cooking oil (like canola or sunflower)

16 oz or 450g carrots

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons allspice (We aren't fans of allspice so I skip it and add extra cinnamon.)

3 teaspoons cinnamon 

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup chopped nuts (optional) We never add nuts but feel free if your family likes them.

Method

Peel and cut the very ends off of your carrots.  Cover them with water in a medium sized pot and cook until very fork tender.  

Drain the water off and mash them with a potato masher until there aren’t any lumps.  I do them rather fine so that haters don’t find a piece of carrot in the cake.  Transfer the mashed carrots to a bowl and leave to cool.

When your carrots are cool and you are ready to start mixing, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your cake pan by buttering and flouring it or lining it with parchment paper.  I use a rectangular pan with internal measurements of 12.5 in x 8.5 in or 32cm x 22cm.  I give the pan a quick zap of non-stick spray to keep the parchment from moving about. 

Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl, including the cooled carrots and mix well.  

Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula and beat for about two more minutes on high.

Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.   

No, it did not get bitten by a snake.  I tested it twice for doneness. Second time's the charm.

Allow to cool completely before even thinking of adding frosting.  The cream cheese frosting recipe post is up.  Carrot cake cries out for cream cheese frosting.  

Enjoy!

Update:  My baby girl has turned 20!  Of course, I baked carrot cake again.

And for her 21st, there were just three of us celebrating so I halved the ingredients and baked it in one round pan. Served with Champagne!