Moist Carrot Bundt Cake is filled with a layer of cream cheese and topped with a cream cheese frosting. It's easy to make and a real crowd-pleaser for any occasion.
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Old fashioned carrot cake is my husband's favorite cake, and coincidentally mine as well. We both love to taste the spiced cake on its own without any mixins like raisins, pineapple, or nuts. And the best part is the slightly tangy cream cheese frosting.
To add an additional layer of cream cheese, I transformed a traditional layer cake into this Carrot Bundt Cake with a delicious swirl of cream cheese throughout. As a trained pastry chef, I love taking classic recipes and finding new twists for a fun weeknight dessert.
Let's get baking!
Before you begin
Take out the following baking equipment.
Digital kitchen scale
Large bundt pan
1 large bowl
1 medium bowl
3 small bowls
Silicone spatula
Stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
Wire cooling rack
1 offset spatula
Allow all your ingredients to come to room temperature.
Read the recipe through from start to finish.
Understanding ingredients
Most cakes will call for all-purpose flour or cake flour. However, for this particular recipe, use bread flour to create a firmer structure to help offset the weight of the shredded carrots. Bread flour has a higher amount of protein than both all-purpose and cake flour, which will produce a sturdier structure. Only mix your cake until the ingredients are just combined. Because of the stronger flour, you do not want to overmix the batter and therefore overdevelop the gluten.
Carrot cakes are oil-based cakes as opposed to butter-based. The oil keeps the cake moist as well as extends the shelf life of the cake. However, when you use butter, the creaming stage adds air into your batter, which contributes to leavening your cake. Eliminating this in oil-based cakes means more baking powder and baking soda are needed to ensure the cake properly rises. Additionally, to prevent the cake from tasting too oily and for some added moisture, applesauce is added to the batter.
Do not use store-bought shredded carrots for this recipe, as it will affect the moisture content of your cake. They are very dry and lack sweetness compared to shredding carrots. When grating your carrots, select a fine to medium-sized grater. You want the carrots to distribute throughout the batter evenly, and you do not want to bite into large pieces of carrot. The carrots should not overpower your cake, but rather add a delicate balance to the spices.
The blending method
Because carrot cake uses oil as its fat ingredient, the blending method is used (oil is more easily incorporated into the batter as opposed to butter). It's the easiest of all the cake mixing methods. Cakes that use this method have a moist crumb similar to this carrot bundt cake.
To use the blended method, simply combine the oil, sugar, eggs, and flavorings until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend. It's as simple as that. No mixer needed.
Tips and takeaways
- The cheesecake filling is slightly thick, so don't worry if it doesn't evenly spread. It will turn out delicious, regardless!
- If you enjoy nuts, raisins, or pineapple in your carrot cake, feel free to add them to the cake batter to meet your preferences.
- If you love the flavor of cloves, add 0.7 g (¼ teaspoon) ground cloves to the dry ingredients.
More cake recipes
I hope you love this Carrot Bundt Cake as much as we do and that it becomes a family favorite! Please leave a comment below, I love reading your feedback! And if you’d like to make this recipe later, don’t forget to pin it on Pinterest! Happy Baking!
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Carrot Bundt Cake
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 bundt cake 1x
Description
Moist Carrot Bundt Cake is filled with a layer of cream cheese and topped with a cream cheese frosting. It's easy to make and a real crowd-pleaser for any occasion.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 280 g (2 cups) bread flour
- 9.2 g (2 teaspoons) baking powder
- 5 g (1 teaspoon) baking soda
- 4.7 g (¾ teaspoon) salt
- 4 g (2 teaspoons) ground cinnamon
- 1.5 g (¾ teaspoon) ground ginger
- 0.7 g (¼ teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- 170 g (¾ cup) canola oil
- 220 g (1 cup) packed light brown sugar
- 220 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 200 g (4 large) eggs, at room temperature
- 122 g (½ cup) unsweetened applesauce
- 3.5 g (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- 270 g (2 cups) grated carrots
For the filling
- 113 g (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 55 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 50 g (1 large) egg, at room temperature
- 3.5 g (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
For the frosting
- 113 g (4 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 20 g (1 ½ tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 180 g (1 ½ cups) powdered sugar
- 15-45 g (1-3 tablespoons) heavy cream or whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C. Grease and lightly flour a bundt pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg until thoroughly mixed. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, both sugars, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla until smooth and combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the carrots. Pour half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla and continue to mix until combined. Spread filling evenly over the cake batter.
- Pour the remaining cake batter over the cream cheese filling. Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes inside the hot pan on a wire rack.
- Carefully remove the bundt cake and allow to cool completely on the wire rack.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in the powdered sugar until completely combined. Slowly add the heavy cream until desired consistency is achieved. Using a piping bag or an offset spatula, decorate the cake with the cream cheese frosting.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Cakes
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