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I absolutely love making carrot cake and it’s turned into one of our children’s favourite bakes too. But sometimes you don’t want to make a whole carrot cake and so carrot fairy cakes can be a great alternative.

These individual perfect carrot cake cupcakes taste just like a traditional carrot cake and are perfect for a buffet spread, Easter gathering or party. Small carrot cakes are a really versatile bake that everyone will love and look fantastic too.

What do you need for this Easter carrot cupcakes recipe?

For this easy carrot cake recipe we use typical cake ingredients – eggs, sugar and flour plus so much to give that carrot cake taste – orange zest and orange juice, grated carrots and mixed spice plus dried fruit which gives a lovely texture to the bake too. I also use oil instead of butter to make the cakes lovely and moist.

A lot of people add nuts to their home made carrot cakes so feel free to add some mixed nuts or chopped walnuts if you like them in your mini carrot cakes. You can also use any dried fruit you like although we tend to use cheap dried mixed fruit or simply raisins or sultanas.

How do you finish these easy carrot cupcakes?

We top these homemade carrot cakes with a classic cream cheese frosting recipe using Philadelphia, icing sugar, butter and vanilla extract. You could buy ready made frosting or simply top with an icing sugar and water mix but I think the cream cheese icing gives a really classic finish. Although we use Philadelphia you could use any cream cheese you like for the topping.

How long do these cakes keep for?

Due to the cream cheese frosting, we keep these cakes in the fridge until serving but bring them back to room temperature before they’re eaten. They keep well in an airtight container for a few days but, honestly, they never last that long – the kids love them!

If you’re looking for more cake recipes to try, here’s our Lemon Bakewell Tarts, Lemon Bakewell Slice and Mini Egg Brownies recipes. You can see all our recipes to date here.

What equipment do you need to make these Carrot Cake Fairy Cakes?

You will no doubt have most of the equipment you need for this recipe at home already but, in case it helps, here are the things we use to bake these cakes at home:

These are pretty much staples for baking in any home kitchen and once you have them you won’t need to replace them often.

So here’s our delicious Carrot Cake Fairy Cakes recipe

Makes: 8 large cupcakes or 16 smaller fairy cakes

Ingredients

2 large eggs
2 medium carrots
180g self-raising flour
165 g light brown sugar
120 ml vegetable/sunflower oil
Zest and juice of one orange
3 tsp mixed spice
100g dried fruit

Topping

115g butter, room temperature
220g Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
400g icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Carrot decorations

Instructions

Preheat oven 180C
Line a muffin tin with cupcake cases
Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well
Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown on top
Leave to cool completely
When cool, mix the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla until it’s a suitable consistency. You can then either pipe or spoon the mixture on top of the cakes.
Top each cake with a carrot decoration and enjoy

If you’d like to print or pin the Carrot Cake Fairy Cakes Recipe for later you can do so below. Enjoy!

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