A perfect excuse to eat cake for breakfast!
The best carrot cake I’ve ever had was at Penelope Cafe, this cute little brunch place near Grand Central Station. Before that, I’d tried carrot cake once or twice before, and I would have said it was okay. But when I tasted Penelope’s, I became obsessed. Moist and rich, loaded with jammy raisins and toasted nuts, crowned with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting . . . years later, it’s still one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. These muffins are a tribute to that.
Soft and tender, and packed with carrots, raisins, and toasted pecans, these Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins are a delectable way to start the day! The lightly spiced cake perfectly balances the sweet carrots and raisins, while that surprise pocket of cream cheese brings both tang and richness to contrast with the crunchy pecans. In one bite, you’ll get smooth and creamy, crunchy and soft, tang and spice. What more do you want?
If these muffins look complicated—filling! Frosting! Add-ins!—relax: they’re super simple. The filling is only four ingredients (one of which is salt!) and the frosting is actually just leftover filling, thinned out with a little milk. As for the add-in’s, while I highly recommend toasting the pecans and hydrating the raisins in a little water before adding them to your batter (the difference in the textures and flavors are HUGE!), you don’t absolutely have to. You can even leave one or both of them out of the muffins entirely, if you’re not a fan.
Whether you love carrot cake as much as I do or don’t really have it on your radar. In the end, they’re really just a delicious excuse to eat cake for breakfast. And who doesn’t want that?
Enjoy!
Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins
(Serves 14)
For the cream cheese filling and topping:
6 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
3-4 teaspoons milk, as needed
For the muffins:
½ cup raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour (250 g)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 large eggs (150 g)
¾ cup vegetable oil (175 g)
½ cup packed light brown sugar (100 g)
½ cup granulated sugar (100 g)
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup toasted chopped pecans, divided
Special equipment: muffin pan
Method
For the cream cheese filling:
In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt just until smooth. Cover and chill.
For the muffins:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin tin wells, or line with cupcake liners.
In a small pot, heat the raisins with ¼ cup water until the water begins to simmer. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit until the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg until combined.
In a larger bowl, whisk the eggs until blended, then whisk in the vegetable oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth. Fold in the dry mix until just combined, then fold in the grated carrots, ¾ cup toasted chopped pecans, and cooled raisins.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the muffin batter into each muffin well. Add a scant tablespoon of cream cheese filling into the center (reserve the remaining filling to thin out for the decoration), then divide the rest of the muffin batter between the wells, spooning it around the cream cheese blobs to enclose them in the center.*
Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes, or until risen, browned, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and let sit in the tins for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, add milk, a teaspoon at a time, to the remaining cream cheese filling until it reaches a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cooled muffins and decorate with remaining ¼ cup toasted chopped pecans.
*This recipe makes enough batter for 14 muffins. If you have two muffin pans, you can bake all the muffins at the same time, or, if you like, you can bake the first 12, remove them from the tins, and then bake the last two-- as a bonus round!
Originally posted April 6, 2022.
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