Carrot Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
You can’t go wrong with this classic springtime dessert! Topped with a fluffy cream cheese frosting, this delicious cake recipe from Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate is perfect for Easter brunch or Sunday supper.
When spring rolls around, my frame of mind for desserts shifts from rich, chocolate desserts to lighter flavors like citrus and fruit. I also tend to think of carrot cake as a spring dessert. For whatever reason, it always pops up among the Easter desserts options when I’m searching on Pinterest. Is it because carrots are in season? Or maybe because bunnies eat carrots? Regardless, I’m not complaining. I am a huge fan of carrot cake!
It took me three tries to get this carrot cake recipe right. The first try the texture just wasn’t right. On the second try the cake wouldn’t budge from the Bundt pan, despite a thick layer of cooking spray. I also added crushed pineapple to the second recipe, as I’ve seen a lot of carrot cake recipes with pineapple in it. Turns out, I’m personally not a fan of it. I like the spices and texture of the cake to shine through, not chunks of pineapple.
Like they say, third time’s a charm! The texture of this carrot cake is spot on, there are no distracting pineapple chunks, and it slid right out of the pan. Winning!
While this carrot cake is perfection, my favorite part about carrot cake is always the cream cheese frosting. I mean, what is carrot cake without cream cheese frosting? Nothing worth eating, in my opinion. I lightened the flavor of my cream cheese up with a little lemon zest to remind me even more of spring.
Since some people like pecans in their carrot cake (I, again, am a carrot cake purist), I sprinkled a handful on top of the cream cheese frosting. These are totally optional but I really enjoyed the little crunch on top!
This Carrot Bundt Cake would be perfect for your Easter dessert, spring brunch, or Sunday supper dessert! Or really, just because you want carrot cake. There’s nothing wrong with that!
Carrot Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 1 Bundt cake
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons milk
¼ cup chopped pecans, for topping
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 F.
- Spray Bundt pan generously with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together oil and sugars until well combined.
- Add eggs, one at a time, whisking to completely combine after each addition.
- Add vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- Add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt; whisk to combine, then stir in flour with a spatula.
- Fold in carrots.
- Pour into prepared Bundt pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until golden on top and baked through.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn cake out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To make the frosting:
- Beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until creamy.
- Add powdered sugar slowly, beating well to combine.
- Add lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of milk at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
- Drizzle/spread over cooled cake.
- Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Slice and enjoy!
