Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins
These Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins feature tasty carrot cake muffins topped with brown sugar + walnut streusel…and stuffed with a dollop of cream cheese frosting!
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Several years ago, I posted a recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Muffins – on a side note, those muffins are delicious! In that post, we chatted about some of the jokes surrounding muffins vs. cupcakes. Today’s recipe for Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins adds a new wrinkle to that debate!
“Cupcakes without frosting are just muffins.” Well, what about a muffin that has frosting hiding inside? Does that make it a muffin? Or is it a cupcake? Or perhaps something in between? Ah, who cares what we call it. These Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins are delicious!
Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins
Have you ever baked a stuffed muffin? They’re fun! In this case, the muffin is a classic carrot cake muffin, but it includes a dollop of cream cheese frosting inside of the muffin. Yup, no one knows that frosting is hiding in there…until they take a bite. As far as I’m concerned, finding frosting hiding inside of a muffin is pretty high up there on my list!
For these Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins, we start with a classic carrot cake muffin. I personally like raisins and walnuts in my carrot cake, so I included those here. If you aren’t a raisin fan, leave ’em out! Same for walnuts. You could use pecans, or just omit nuts entirely. Maybe you like carrot cake with bits of pineapple? Toss it in! (Just pat the pineapple bits dry with a paper towel so they don’t add extra moisture to the batter.) Or maybe shredded coconut? Go for it!
The base for this carrot cake muffin is fantastic, so feel free to make whatever changes you like with the “mix-ins.” Whatever you do, don’t forget the streusel crumb topping! Brown sugar, oats and walnuts combine to make one fantastic streusel to crumble on top of these muffins before they get baked. The oats get nice and toasty as the muffins bake – delicious!
If you stopped there, you’d have one heck of a tasty carrot cake muffin. But we’re taking the extra step and stuffing those muffins today! For the frosting inside, I used my go-to carrot cake frosting that I use for traditional carrot cake. It’s 2 parts cream cheese, 1 part butter and a bit of sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. It’s delicious! Laura says that cream cheese frosting is the best she’s ever tasted – so that means something, right?
To stuff a muffin with frosting, you simply add ~2 tablespoons of batter to each muffin cup. Then go along and add ~1 tablespoons of frosting to each muffin cup. Finally, top that frosting with another ~1-2 tablespoons of batter. The frosting gets “trapped” inside of the batter as the muffins bake. It does take a bit of extra time, but it’s not a hard process at all. Plus, you end up with some pretty fun muffins…err, cupcakes…err, muffins…or whatever you want to call ’em!
If you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate Easter this year, I highly recommend baking a batch of these Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins. In truth, these muffins would be great any time of the year. I just usually associate carrot cake with Easter. No matter the time of year, I do hope you make a batch of these muffins. They’re fun…and more importantly, they’re delicious!
Did you bake these Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins at home? Leave a comment or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog) – I’d love to see your version!
Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
For the Streusel
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup walnuts finely chopped
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
For the Filling
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 2 oz. unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
For the Muffins
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated carrots ~2-3 medium carrots
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
For the Streusel
- Using a small bowl, add all of the streusel ingredients (butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, walnuts and cinnamon); stir until well combined. Set streusel aside.
For the Filling
- Using a microwave safe bowl, add cream cheese and butter; microwave on low for 30 seconds. Stir until well combined. (Note: If necessary, continue microwaving in 10 second intervals until mixture is soft enough to easily stir together.)
- Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon; stir until well combined. Place bowl in refrigerator until needed.
For the Muffins
- Line 18 muffin tin cups with paper liners, or spray with nonstick baking spray; set pan(s) aside.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Using a large bowl, add dry ingredients (flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt); stir until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, milk and vanilla. Add liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just combined.
- Fold in carrots and raisins.
- Drop 2 Tbsp of batter into each of the prepared muffin cups, spreading the batter so that it covers the bottom of each cup.
- Drop ~½ Tbsp of filling into each muffin cup.
- Fill the muffin cups with remaining batter until ~½” from the top. (~1 Tbsp of batter per cup.)
- Using your fingers, crumble the streusel topping on top of the cups.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake part of one of the muffins comes out mostly clean.
- Let muffins cool in pan for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. (Note: If you serve the muffins warm, the filling will be loose. If you serve the muffins at room temperature, the filling will be a bit more firm.)
Looking for more carrot cake recipes? Check out some of these other favorites, too:
Cant wait to make this soon for me for the streusel can i use vegan butter / filling can i use vegan cream cheese and butter amd muffins can i use almond milk i never had stuffed carrot cake muffins before perfect for my after office snacks love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
While I haven’t tried the vegan substitutes for this recipe, I suspect they would work just fine. Give it a try – these muffins are really tasty and the cream cheese inside is a fun surprise!
These sound wonderful! I just wish my days of eating sweet carbs hadn’t passed…
Haha – I hear ya, Mimi. I do love to bake, but we have to be really careful whenever I do. 🙂
I love the idea of combining the flavors of carrot cake and muffins in one treat. It’s interesting to think about whether it’s a muffin or a cupcake with frosting inside, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the taste, and these muffins sound delicious
You’re absolutely right, Raymund – at the end of the day, the flavors in these muffins/cupcakes/whatever you call ’em are fantastic! And the cream cheese inside is a fun surprise, too!
I normally not a muffin person (as they often sound / taste boring to me), but these bad guys? Oh yes!
Cream cheese filling and streusel DO make the difference. While I love walnuts (and pecans), I bet the addition of pistachios will also be particularly good. And a hint of cardamom along with other spices.
I also think it’s unfair that stuffed muffins don’t get their own name – we should definitely come up with something awesome!
Well, if you normally don’t go for muffins, let’s call this one an “inside out cupcake.” Does that work better? 🙂 I’m also with you on the pistachio idea, Ben. I’ll have to try that out next time I make a batch of these!
Love that surprise filling in the middle of these carrot cake muffins! So perfect for Easter!
These really are quite fun – and tasty, too! Thanks, Michelle!
Excellent recipe David! I love carrot cake all year round but especially at Easter. Love your streusel topping twist!
I hear ya, Neil – carrot cake is always a favorite around here, too. I do love it this time of the year even more, though!
Hidden frosting? Yes please! And I love carrot cake muffins so these are right up my alley. Wish I had one to go with my coffee right about now. Talk about a delicious treat to start the week. 🙂
These muffins go quite well with a cup of strong coffee. Just sayin’. 🙂 Thanks, Dawn!
carrot cake muffins sounds like a fine idea David!
Thanks, Sherry! These carrot cake muffins feature all of the yummy baking spices…with a hidden surprise in the middle! 🙂
Thanks for this interesting recipe, David! I think there might be some technical differences between muffin and cupcakes, but I’m all about blurring the lines! These cupomuffins or muffcakes or whatever you want to call them sound decidedly delicious!
Honestly, cupomuffins and muffcakes are both amazing terms. I’m not sure I want to google either of those words, but they are perfect descriptors here! 🙂
I love carrot cake and carrot muffins, but you’ve taken these to the next level. A streusel topping and the filling make them very worthy for special entertaining. I reckon they are quite healthy really.