Perfectly Moist Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you’re craving just a little bit of carrot cake, these muffins are just the thing.

Makes: 24 muffins
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 plus 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 medium carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups plus 5 tbsp Mirage margarine, divided
• 226g cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (200C). Line 24 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

1. Toss the grated carrots with the flour mixture.

1. In another bowl, mix the sugars and eggs. Slowly drizzle the 1 ½ cups of melted margarine in and mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until just combined, do not overmix.

1. Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way with batter. Transfer to oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.
2. Meanwhile, put together frosting by mixing together the five tablespoons of margarine, cream cheese, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and ground cinnamon with a rubber spatula until smooth. If using an electric mixer, keep on low speed.

1. Let muffins cool completely before spreading the tops with the cream cheese frosting.

Chef Notes

• Try piping on the cream cheese frosting with a piping tip for a more polished look. We used a 1 centimeter circular piping tip.