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Carrot cake with citrus goat cheese frosting.

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If you don’t have ramekins on hand, you can use tin cans, or simply a regular cupcake pan. This will yield about four to six cupcakes, depending on how much you fill the liners.

Ingredients

Scale
  • for the cake:
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch ground nutmeg
  • pinch ground cloves
  • pinch ground ginger
  • pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup grated carrots, packed, with moisture
  • for the frosting:
  • 1 oz (2 tbsp) creamy or fresh goat cheese, room temperature (I used Vermont Creamery’s creamy)
  • 2 oz (4 tbsp) cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 tbsp butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, more if needed
  • 2 tsp citrus zest of your choice (I used mandarin orange)
  • about 1 tsp citrus juice, depending on consistency of frosting (I used kumquat)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line the bottoms of 3 4-ounce porcelain ramekins with parchment paper circles. (Alternatively, you can use a regular cupcake pan, lined with cupcake liners.)
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together both sugars, oil, and Greek yogurt.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt (everything but the carrots). Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently until incorporated. Finally, fold in the carrots, again until incorporated.
  4. Distribute evenly between the three ramekins and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until tops have set and bounce back when touched, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If using a cupcake pan, bake 12-15 minutes, keeping a close eye on the cupcakes to ensure they don’t dry out.
  5. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes and invert. They should drop out easily. Peel off parchment paper, flip rightside up, and set aside to cool.
  6. To make the frosting, cream together goat cheese, cream cheese, and butter until smooth. Mix in confectioners’ sugar 1/4 cup at a time until frosting reaches a thick consistency. It should be a little too thick to spread at this point. Add citrus zest and citrus juice, a few drops at a time, until the frosting is at the right consistency. If it becomes too runny, don’t add any more juice, but simply add confectioners’ sugar a few tablespoons at a time until it reaches your preferred thickness.
  7. Frost as desired, and serve. For instructions on how to frost a layer cake and for links to other tutorials, see this recipe.

Notes

If you’re using Neufchatel or low-fat cream cheese instead of regular, omit the citrus juice, as low-fat cheese will tend to be a bit runnier.

Finally, I am not a walnut-raisin-carrot-cake-gal, which is why my recipe is a bit simpler — but absolutely feel free to add a tablespoon of either or both if that’s your speed.

Find it online: https://tworedbowls.com/2014/02/25/carrot-cake-citrus-goat-cheese-frosting/