These Chai Carrot Cake Scones with cream cheese frosting combine everything you love about carrot cake into a perfectly spiced treat that's delicious for dessert or breakfast!
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Spring is officially here and with it comes all kinds of spring desserts made with lemon, strawberries, blueberries, and other seasonal fruits. OK, and LOTS of Cadbury Eggs (Cream AND Mini), Peeps, and jelly beans.
In order to balance out all that sweet fruit and sugary Easter candy, I guess we should talk about seasonal vegetables, too, right? Sigh. But vegetables can be fun, I promise! Especially if you're strategically adding them into baked goods instead of salads.
And I mean, if we're going to be baking, scones are "healthier" than most desserts we could make. Though, I have definitely made Cadbury Mini Egg Scones before (and omg you should absolutely make them, too!), so with those, my "healthy" argument could be moot.
But just because they're not the most sugary, decadent desserts of all time, doesn't mean scones are boring. If you think scones are boring, you just haven't had a good one yet!
Now that I've been making them so often and perfecting my recipes, scones are one of my absolute favorite desserts. Maybe because they're also totally acceptable for breakfast.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
I love a fun and unique baked good that's seasonally appropriate and these chai carrot cake scones certainly fit the bill!
They're packed with carrot cake flavor with a touch of chai spice and are visually so pretty and perfect for all things spring and Easter.
You can make them to serve with afternoon tea or coffee or you can serve that at an Easter brunch.
They're super easy to make and the most fun spin on standard scones!
🗒 Ingredients
If the ingredient list for these scones seems extensive, you should know that it's mostly baking ingredients you likely have in your pantry and fridge, plus some spices.
Here's everything you need (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground ginger
- Ground allspice
- Ground cardamom
- Unsalted butter
- Heavy cream
- Large eggs
- Grated carrots
- Chopped walnuts
And for the cream cheese icing:
- Cream cheese
- Confectioners' sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground ginger
- Ground allspice
- Ground cardamom
- Salt & pepper
- Heavy cream or milk
🫚 How to make chai spice mix
You can certainly buy a Chai spice mix, but if you do, make sure you look for one that just contains the spices (like this chai spice mix) and not an actual latte mix with milk powder, sugar, and other ingredients in it.
However, its also super easy to make your own chai spice mix! I just mixed each individual spice into my scone's dry mixture. Here are the spices I used:
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Cardamom
- Allspice
- Pepper
If you wanted to make a big batch of the chai spice mix or are using a store-bought mixture, you can simply multiply the ratios I recommend and keep the spice mix in a jar.
And when you make this recipe, use 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture.
🥕 How to make chai carrot cake scones
I love carrot cake and I also love all things chai spice flavored, so once the idea for chai carrot cake scones popped into my head, these scones were an immediate must-make for me.
They take no time at all and if you have a boxed grater (here's the boxed grater I own), even the carrots are a breeze to grate!
Mix all those chai spices in with all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt.
And then cut in a stick of chilled butter cut into cubes and mix in grated carrots, heavy cream, and chopped walnuts if you want.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a bit and form into a mound that's about ¾" thick.
Cut dough round into 8 wedges, place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and brush lightly with heavy cream.
Bake at 400 degrees for 13-16 minutes until scones are turning golden around the edges.
Let the scones cool on the pan for a couple minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
🥣 How to make chai cream cheese frosting
While the scones are cooling, make the chai cream cheese frosting! The frosting is simply cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, more of those delicious chai spices, salt, and cream.
omg try your hardest not to eat this right out of the bowl.
When scones are completely cooled, drizzle them with chai cream cheese frosting. Or you can spread it on if you want.
I also added more chopped walnuts and shredded carrots to the top of my chai carrot cake scones.
I briefly considered adding raisins into the scones, but I'm fully aware that raisins can cause a lot of controversy, so I decided to stay away from them.
I DID add walnuts, but if you prefer a nut-free version, you can certainly leave them out.
Result? HEAVEN.
I honestly don't know what I loved best about these chai carrot cake scones. The deliciously spicy (in a chai spice way and not a HOT spice way) flavor of the scones, the plethora of carrots, or that cream cheese frosting.
I used to hate cream cheese frosting. I wasted a lot of time with that hatred. Especially now that I know the joys of chai cream cheese frosting.
⏲️ How to store
Because these scones have cream cheese frosting on them, I recommend putting them in an airtight container or on a plate or tray covered loosely with plastic wrap, and putting in your fridge.
They should stay fresh for about 4-5 days when stored properly. You can feel free to re-warm the scones after chilling them.
If you want to make the scones ahead of time, but don't want to refrigerate them, you can store the unfrosted scones in an airtight container at room temperature. You can make the chai frosting ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.
Right before serving, remove the icing from the fridge and frost the scones.
🎉 Variations on recipe
I love the flavors of these chai carrot cake scones and there's really nothing I would change about them! But there's a lot you could do to suit them to your tastes.
Here are some ideas:
- If you're not a fan of chai flavoring, you can simply use the spices of your choice. Use only cinnamon if you only want cinnamon. Pumpkin pie spice would also be delicious.
- If you don't like cream cheese frosting, consider a basic vanilla icing made with confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla extract.
- If you want cream cheese icing, but don't like the idea of chai seasoning in it, you can make a cinnamon, pumpkin, vanilla, or maple flavored cream cheese topping instead.
- In addition to or instead of walnuts, you could use pumpkin seeds, pistachios, or pecans.
- You could also incorporate dried fruit like cranberries into these scones.
- You can use part whole wheat flour to make the scones.
Of course, standard carrot cake is delicious, but I now know I would prefer to have it in scone form. You can't really excuse carrot cake for breakfast, can you??
But carrot cake scones? Those are perfectly acceptable with your morning cup of tea or coffee.
They make great snacks, too. Basically, you can't go wrong with a chai carrot cake scone at any time of day.
And really, any time of year, considering carrots are readily available year-round.
🌷 More spring desserts
When the weather gets warmer, I really lean into seasonal ingredients and flavors. Here are some of my favorite spring recipes:
I'm also very excited to make these Carrot Cake Overnight Oats for a lovely spring breakfast!
Carrot cake scones are extra appropriate for springtime and Easter brunch. I might even say they make the perfect side to that Easter ham. Or just your morning coffee while you wait for the Easter bunny.
Happy spring y'all!! I hope the weather is starting to warm up where you are.
What are your favorite spring ingredients?
If you love this recipe, be sure to check out all my scone recipes.
📖 Recipe
Chai Carrot Cake Scones
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
- ½ cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing scones
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups grated carrots (from about 3 large carrots), plus more for topping
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts, plus more for topping (optional)
Chai Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- Pinch ground cardamom
- Pinch salt
- Pinch pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream or milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, salt, and pepper.
- Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork (or your hands), until pea-size pieces form with some larger chunks remaining.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cream and eggs. Using a spatula, fold the cream/egg mixture, grated carrots, and chopped walnuts into the dry mixture until just combined.
- On a lightly floured surface, gently knead the dough a few times. Then using your hands, form a circle about ¾" thick. Slice dough into 8 triangles and place on prepared baking sheet. Brush scones lightly with heavy cream.
- Bake for 13-16 minutes, until scones are just turning golden around edges.
- Let scones cool before drizzling with chai cream cheese frosting and sprinkling with additional grated carrots and chopped walnuts.
Chai Cream Cheese Icing
- Using a hand mixer or a whisk, beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, salt, and pepper and beat until combined.
- Add milk or cream to bowl ¼ cup at a time, beating well after each addition until frosting is smooth and at desired consistency.
Notes
- Box Grater
- Pastry Cutter
- Chai Spice Mix (if not using homemade)
Alexandra @ It's Not Complicated Recipes says
How good these look! I love carrot cake - so I know I am going to enjoy these scones very much!
Jillian says
These look amazing! I'd pass on the Cadbury mini eggs for these ( and that says a lot) !
Natalie says
I absolutely love these scones. They looks so delicious and flavorful. I'm totally into carrots lately so I'll be making this for sure.
Meghna says
These scones look so gorgeous! I would love them anytime, so rushing to the kitchen after work this evening to make them.
Anita says
Yum, I love carrot cake, and this chai carrot cake scones is something I need to make soon. Looks so delicious. 🙂
Samantha Paul says
carrot is one of my favorite vegetable also...and this cake looks gorgeous with most beautiful pictures as well....Thanks for sharing....!
Katherine | Love In My Oven says
How beautiful and bright are these!? So perfect for spring. I love the idea of combing chai and carrot cake!!
Linda says
This is a fun recipe to make this Easter. And adding chai makes this scone extra special.