Carrot cake whoopie pies are like mini carrot cake sandwiches filled with the best tangy cream cheese frosting. It’s an easy spin on the classic carrot cake.
If you’re a carrot cake lover, you’ll love this carrot cake whoopie pie recipe. It’s essentially just carrot cake but baked into cake-like cookies. It’s easier to eat and the perfect easter dessert if you want something easy and mini portable carrot cakes.
I love a traditional carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and if you are looking for an amazing recipe that has freshly grated carrots, raisins, crushed pineapples, coconut and walnuts I have what you’re looking for!
I make carrot cake almost every Easter and Thanksgiving because it’s truly one of my favorite desserts, but a lot of planning goes into making it.
Once I started experimenting with carrot cake whoopie pies they tasted just as amazing, but the work was cut in half! Maybe more than half. But I do still miss the pineapples, raisins, and coconuts in the carrot cake. I didn’t test adding these into the carrot cake whoopie pies but chopped walnuts are optional in this recipe.
Why you’ll love these carrot cake whoopie pies.
Easy and quick if you are a huge fan of carrot cake but looking for simple.
Perfect for the Easter season. And even if it’s not easter who doesn’t love carrot cake!
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Ingredients:
Flour: All-purpose flour is best used in this recipe
Cinnamon: Cinnamon provides the whoopie pies with the perfect amount of spice for carrot cakes. My personal preference but I don’t like overly spiced carrot cakes with ginger and nutmeg.
Sugar/Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar or Dark Brown Sugar can be used in this recipe. But a blend of both granulated sugar and brown sugar provides the whoopie pies with the right flavor and the color for it.
Baking Soda/Baking Powder: Read my article to learn more about how important baking soda and baking powder are in recipes.
Egg: I use large eggs; room temperature is preferred. This recipe only uses 1 large Egg yolk.
Oil/Butter: A blend of both oil and butter gives the carrot whoopie pies moisture and flavor. Make sure to use room-temperature unsalted butter.
Grated Carrots: Make sure not to buy pre-grated carrots as it’s too big for this recipe. Grate the carrots with the smallest grate and then place them on a clean paper towel to release the moisture. If the moisture isn’t taken out of the grated carrots, you will get different results.
Nuts: Walnuts or Pecan can be used in this recipe. I crushed them almost fine and folded them into the batter in the end.
Buttermilk: Buttermilk will help the whoopie pies rise and provide extra tenderness and moisture to the whoopie pies.
How to make Carrot Cake Whoopie pies
Carrot cake whoopie pies can be made with an electric mixer or stand mixer using a paddle attachment. No special equipment is required to make this, just some extra elbow grease with the cream cheese frosting.
In a large bowl add the butter, oil, and both sugars. Cream on high speed until fluffy and scrape the sides of the bowl.
Add in the egg and vanilla and continue to mix just until it’s combined.
With a medium mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients (Flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder) whisk, and then set aside.
Add the combined flour mixture to the creamed butter alternating with the buttermilk, starting with flour and ending with flour.
Grate one medium carrot with the smallest grate on your grater transfer over to a clean paper towel and squeeze out the moisture.
Fold in the grated carrots and if desired the finely crushed walnuts. Mix until just incorporated.
With a small cookie scooper, scoop the batter and place it into a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, making sure to keep them 2 inches apart giving them space to spread.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The sides should be slightly golden brown. Make sure not to overbake them.
Allow the carrot cakes to cool on the cookie pans for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to allow them too fully cool. (The bottom of the whoopie pies is fragile and soft).
Cream Cheese Filling:
Beat cream cheese and unsalted butter on medium speed until it’s combined and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat on low speed and then on high until it comes together.
Transfer cream cheese frosting into a piping bag with a large round tip.
Carrot cake Whoopie pies Assembly:
Once the carrot whoopie pies have fully cooled match them and put them side by side. Pipe the cream cheese icing on the flat side of the whoopie pie and then sandwich them together.
Optional: Roll the sides of the carrot cake whoopie pies into finely crushed walnuts.
Carrot Cake Whoopie pies will stay moist in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days in an airtight container. Place parchment paper or wax paper sheets in between each whoopie pie to reduce them sticking to each other.
Bakers Tip
To create more uniform whoopie pies, transfer batter into a piping bag with a round tip and pipe the batter into 1 1/2-inch circles.
Bake whoopie pies on silpat instead of parchment paper. I find that the whoopie pies don’t spread out as much.
Grate the carrots on the smallest grate. The Whoopie pies are a bit small and fragile, using a smaller grate will allow the carrots to disperse into the batter more.
Why are my carrot cake whoopie pies flat?
Proper Measuring: Always fluff, scoop, and scrape off excess flour. Too much flour can create a very dense and dry whoopie pie. Too little flour will create a whoopie pie that flattens like a pancake.
Grated Carrots: You didn’t take out moisture from the grated carrots.
Overmixed: Just mix the ingredients together until it’s just combined. Overmixing can create flat and tough whoopie pies.
My Cream Cheese frosting is soupy.
A soupy cream Cheese frosting can either be caused by two things. The frosting was either overbeaten or the frosting is too warm. If the cream cheese frosting is broken it should almost look curdled. In my years of making cream cheese frosting, I’ve never been able to fix it, even after refrigerating. It would still work and taste delicious but the whoopie pies might slide off. Yes, you can add more powdered sugar to it but then you just end up with an overly sweet cream cheese frosting.
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies Recipe
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies
- 6 tbsp Unsalted butter Room Temp
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Sugar
- 3 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar see notes*
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/8 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 cup Buttermilk see notes*
- 1/2 cup Grated Carrots see notes*
- 1/4 cup finely crushed walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz Softened Cream Cheese
- 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
Instructions
Carrot Whoopie pie
- In a large bowl add the butter, oil, and both sugars. Cream on high speed until fluffy and scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and continue to mix just until it’s combined.
- With a medium mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients (Flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder) whisk, and then set aside.
- Add the combined flour mixture to the creamed butter alternating with the buttermilk, starting with flour and ending with flour.
- Mix until just incorporated.
- Fold in the grated carrots and if desired the finely crushed walnuts.
- With a small cookie scooper, scoop the batter and place it into a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, making sure to keep them 2 inches apart giving them space to spread.
- Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The sides should be slightly golden brown.
- Allow the carrot cakes to cool on the cookie pans for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to allow them too fully cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat cream cheese and unsalted butter on medium speed until it’s combined and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat on low speed and then on high until it comes together.
- Transfer cream cheese frosting into a piping bag with a large round tip.
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Assembly
- Once the carrot whoopie pies have fully cooled match them and put them side by side. Pipe the cream cheese icing on the flat side of the whoopie pie and then sandwich them together.
- Optional: Roll the sides of the carrot cake whoopie pies into finely crushed walnuts.
- Carrot Cake Whoopie pies will stay moist in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days in an airtight container. Place parchment paper or wax paper sheets in between each whoopie pie to reduce them sticking to each other.
Notes
Bakers Tips: To create more uniform whoopie pies, transfer batter into a piping bag with a round tip and pipe the batter into 1 1/2-inch circles. Bake whoopie pies on silpat instead of parchment paper. I find that the whoopie pies don’t spread out as much. Grate the carrots on the smallest grate. The Whoopie pies are a bit small and fragile, using a smaller grate will allow the carrots to disperse into the batter more.
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