Good morning! I’m excited to share this Mini Paleo Carrot Cakes recipe with you–it feels like Spring in bite: fresh, sweet, zesty.

This recipe was born out of social distancing boredom. Is anyone else feeling that? I’m pretty sure last week, I talked about how much I was loving this time to focus on side projects and be productive. Well, we’re past that now. We’re in the next stage (it consists of crying, baking and binge-watching The Hunger Games.)

Can you relate? (Please say yes.)

While I have loved the time to be productive, I’ve really missed my daily routine, seeing friends and going to work. Sometimes being stuck at home feels really unnerving: there are days I am swept up in all these emotions, with nothing to distract me. No work I can dive into, no retail therapy.

Nope, I simply have to handle my own shit.

And honestly? A lot of it feels like existential dread: what am I doing with my life? Why do I live in the city? What do I want my life to look like in 5 years? I have always been the person who has The Next Big Thing planned out in my life. I don’t love not knowing what’s next. I usually like to fill my schedule, and be slightly overwhelmed (and often productive). But now, I’ve really had to just sit with how I’m feeling.

A lot of questions came up for me:

Am I only doing The Next Big Thing because I don’t think I’m good enough?

Will I ever get to a place where I can relax? Where I can trust that things will work out?

Is it okay, if I don’t accomplish some of my goals? Were they only there because I thought I needed them to seem successful to the rest of the world? (Pardon me, while I use my blog for free therapy.)

So if you’ve been feeling any variation of that–I get it. It’s daunting. We’re out of routine, out of our element. So I get it.

Which is what led me to these Mini Paleo Carrot Cakes. I needed something fun, and delicious–and so do you!

This recipe is lightly adapted from my Paleo Hummingbird Cake recipe, and it is SO FREAKING GOOD. Just saying. When I had initially planned for this recipe, I was going to do a naked cake, with 3-tiers. But I don’t have any 6-inch round pans here in my apartment, and with COVID, it’s been hard to go hunting for things like that. So I made do and decide to create individual cakes.

And I love the way they turned out! I think these would be perfect for Easter, or for Mother’s Day! So I hope you’ll try them out!

How To Make This Mini Paleo Carrot Cakes Recipe

To make these cakes, you’re going to need a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin. If you don’t have that, you can definitely swap it for 2 8-inch round pans, 3 6-inch round pans, or even a loaf pan! Simply adjust your baking time.

First, dry whisk all the dry ingredients to get out any clumps in the almond flour. In another bowl, you’re going to cream together the butter and maple syrup until light and fluffy with a hand mixer. Add in each egg, one at time, beating it in to combine. Add in your vanilla.

Next, you’ll add your dry ingredients into wet and mix thoroughly. Finally, add in your shredded carrots, chopped pecans and cranberries! (You can leave out the nuts and dried fruit if you want, or swap it for what you have on hand!) I find this mixture seems almost dry by the end–or feels like it’s now 90% carrots and 10% batter. That’s okay! Trust the process!

Portion the batter into your greased muffin tins, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes until golden and set (test with a knife–it should come out clean). If you change your baking vessel, start at 20 minutes, and check every 5-10 minutes after. Cool completely.

For the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Then add in the maple syrup and lemon juice! I recommend topping the cakes that day, while the icing is soft. If you’re not going to use it that day, store the cakes and the frosting in the fridge. Make sure the day you frost you leave out the frosting for at least 60 minutes to soften, and gently whip it before hand to get it to be light and fluffy again!

Top the cakes, and add whatever toppings you like! I went with blackberries, blueberries, rosemary and honey. (Don’t eat the rosemary, it’s just a pretty garnish, and it leaves a subtle rosemary flavour which is lovely.)

Key Ingredients

Almond Flour
Maple Syrup
Carrots
Butter
Eggs
Pecans (or walnuts)
Cranberries (or raisins)
Cream Cheese
Lemon Juice

Substitutions

Dairy-free? Not a problem! You can swap the butter for coconut oil (like I did in the Paleo Hummingbird Cake). You can also make this Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting.

If you’re keto, you could try swapping out the maple syrup for sweetener, but I haven’t tried it, so I can’t tell you how it would turn out!

Kitchen Essentials For This Recipe

Other Recipes

Paleo Chocolate Coffee Banana Bread

Paleo Blueberry Almond Fig Cake

Grain-Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Let me know if you make this recipe by tagging me on instagram (@thenourishedmind)! And if you’re not already subscribed, be sure to join my weekly newsletter for the latest in self-care + nutrition!

With love,

Print Pin

Mini Paleo Carrot Cakes

Course Dessert

Cuisine easter

Keyword carrot cake, easter, grain-free, healthy, paleo

Servings cakes

Ingredients

For The Carrot Cakes

3 cups almond flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter softened
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup pecans chopped
1/2 cup cranberries

For The Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter softened
8 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice

To Assemble

Any toppings you'd like (berries, honey, fresh rosemary, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, etc)

Instructions

For The Cakes:

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and maple syrup with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add in one egg at a time, gently beating to combine before adding in the next. Add in the vanilla and combine.
Add dry ingredients into wet and beat to combine.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in carrots, pecans and cranberries. The mixture should seem thick and almost dry.
Evenly distribute the batter amongst the 6-cup muffin tin. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and top and a knife comes out clean. Cool completely.

For The Cream Cheese Frosting:

With a hand mixer, beat together the the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
Add in maple syrup and lemon juice and mix to combine.

To Assemble:

To build, simply pop the cakes out of the moulds and turn upside down. Spread a thick layer of cream cheese frosting over top. Top with any toppings you'd like (I used berries, rosemary and a drizzle of honey, but you could do crushed pecans, cranberries or simply leave plain!).