Easter is almost here and of course food is a crucial part of the holiday. Every year, I wonder which cake I can bake for Easter and carrot cake is enduringly popular. This year, we are only having a small celebration – that means my husband, our dog Olaf and I – so a big cake is too much for the three of us. That's why we're having tasty carrot cake muffins instead.

On Easter morning, I will set the table with seasonal decorations and then I will make a big Latte Macchiato for myself and enjoy a relaxing coffee with my husband. And Olaf? He'll celebrate with us and will find a muffin in his food bowl. Because the recipe for carrot cake muffins is suitable for both dogs and humans. Only the toppings are different. That way, my husband, Olaf and I can celebrate a quiet and relaxing Easter together with coffee and muffins.

Would you like to bake some Easter treats suitable for humans and dogs, too? Therefore, I'm sharing my recipe for tasty carrot cake muffins with you today. The dough is only sweetened with an apple and the carrots will make it pleasantly moist. And the pretty toppings will turn your carrot cake muffins into a true eyecatcher for your Easter table. Because the muffins for humans are decorated with a sweet cream cheese frosting with digging Easter bunnies, while the muffins for dogs have an attractive carrot decoration.

Recipe: Carrot Cake Muffins for human and dog

This recipe yields twelve muffins which you can share with your human or canine loved ones. But as tasty as the carrot cake muffins are, with regard to your dog they should be handled like a particularly large treat: Don't give your dog too many at once. In general, one muffin is more than enough and serves as a pretty big holiday treat.

Ingredients for the Carrot Cake Muffins:

When buying ingredients, pay attention to good quality. Personally, I prefer using organic products for my recipes, if possible.

Ingredients for the dough

• 250 g spelt flour
• 1 apple (large)
• 300 g carrots
• 50 ml rapeseed or canola oil
• 1 egg
• 80 ml vegan milk
• 100 g hazelnuts (ground)

• 100 g butter (at room temperature)
• 300 g icing sugar
• 200 g cream cheese (double cream, cold)
• Food colouring (green & red)
• Fondant (white)

The cream cheese frosting is sufficient for 10 muffins. 250 g of fondant yield 6-7 Easter bunnies and a few small Easter eggs.

Toppings for your dog: carrot decoration

• 1 tablespoon of cream cheese
• Carrot tops with greens
• 1 tablespoon of hazelnuts (chopped)

The amounts given for the topping are sufficient for decorating one muffin.

Bake carrot cake muffins for humans and dogs:

1. Preheat the oven to den 180 °C and prepare a muffin tin by lining it with paper muffin cups.

2. Chop off the carrot tops approx. 1 cm underneath the green and keep the carrot tops and green for decorating the dog muffins. Grate the lower part of the carrots as well as the apple using a grater.

3. Add the grated apple-carrot mix to a bowl with the oil, the egg and the vegan milk and mix all ingredients.

4. Add the dry ingredients, i.e. the flour and the ground hazelnuts and mix into dough.

5. Pour the dough into the paper cups of the prepared muffin tin. Now the muffins must be baked for approx. 30-35 minutes. Use a toothpick or barbecue skewer to check if the muffins are fully baked.

Decorate the muffins for human and dog for Easter:

Once the muffins have cooled, you can add some seasonal Easter decorations for your dog and yourself. Since the dough for the carrot cake muffins was sweetened only with an apple, the decoration for the human can be a little sweeter. Therefore, I'll show you how to make a tasty cream cheese frosting and little Easter bunnies (or at least their rears) from fondant for your muffins. The muffins for your dog, on the other hand, will only be covered in cream cheese and then decorated with carrots, because there is no place for sugar other sweet substances in your dog's muffin.

Decorate the muffins: Easter bunnies in the field for you:

Stir the softened butter with a mixer for approx. 1 minute, until it is light and creamy. Add 200 g of icing sugar and stir the mixture for approx. 2 minutes, until it is creamy and foamy. The colour should be very light. Afterwards, add the rest of the icing sugar and continue stirring for another minute or so. Then set the mixer to the lowest setting and add green food colouring as well as the cold cream cheese slowly and bit by bit. Before frosting the muffins, put the cream cheese frosting mix into the fridge for half an hour. This will give the frosting the perfect consistency.

In the meantime, you can make Easter bunnies (or rather their rears) from fondant. Take a small amount of the white fondant, add one or two drops of the red food colouring and knead. This colours the fondant pink. If the colour is too light, add some more food colouring. Now take the remaining white fondant and make large balls for the bunny bodies, small balls for the cottontails as well as small flat ovals for the feet of the rabbits. Finally, form the bales/pads for the rabbit feet from the pink fondant. Make somewhat smaller flat ovals and attach them to the paws by moistening the bottom of the pink ovals slightly with water and then pressing them to the larger white ovals. Use a toothpick to scratch the toes into the paws. Attach the cotton tails to the bunny bodies with a little bit of water as well. While the bunny parts are drying, spray the cream cheese frosting onto the carrot cake muffins. Finally, assembled the fondant pieces into Easter bunnies on top of the frosting.

Decorate the muffins: A tasty carrot decoration for your dog

Spread cream cheese on top of a muffin and place a carrot top with green in the center. Sprinkle some chopped hazelnuts onto the cream cheese and the carrot cake muffinyou’re your dog is finished.