This carrot bundt cake features soft and moist carrot cake with a ribbon of cream cheese filling inside and cream cheese frosting on top. It's a cozy and delicious cake that's perfect for sharing!
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Notes from the baker
I'm not sure how I went this long without making a carrot cake recipe for the site. When I was drafting this carrot bundt cake recipe, I knew I wanted the cream cheese swirl and I wanted it to be dual-purpose. I wanted to stick it inside the cake and then be able to thin the rest out and use it as the frosting on top of the cake. It's always about making things the lazy way with me.
This carrot bundt cake checks all my boxes. It came out with a gorgeous plush texture and tastes perfectly spiced with a caramelized flavour. I did add some controversial raisins in there but I absolutely love what they add to the cake. I'm definitely in the raisins in carrot cake and pineapple on pizza camp so sue me (please don't).
Why you'll love this recipe
- Soft and moist carrot cake. This carrot cake is incredibly plush and bouncy and never dry.
- Rich cream cheese filling. A ribbon of cream cheese baked into the cake almost gives it a layered cake effect and a better cake to frosting ratio.
- Drippy cream cheese frosting. We're taking the same cream cheese filling and turning it into a frosting so you only have to do the work once and have double the cream cheese flavour.
- Easy to make recipe. Don't be intimidated by the long-ish ingredients list - most are just spices. This is a very easy and straightforward cake to make even if you've never made carrot cake before.
Tools
- Cheese grater - You'll need a cheese grater to finely grate the carrots. Graters usually have a few different sized graters in one. Use the medium grate.
- 10" bundt pan - Bundt pans have a column in the middle of the pan to increase surface area and airflow to cook the cake from both the outside and inside. This is the ideal way to bake a large cake to ensure it's evenly baked throughout. Use a bundt pan with any design you like, although simpler designs with smooth edges are always a safe choice.
- Electric hand mixer - A hand mixer makes mixing the cream cheese much easier and faster. The carrot cake itself can be mixed with just a whisk but since you're already using the mixer for the cream cheese filling, you can just use the same mixer.
- Piping bags - Piping bags are optional but they make adding the cream cheese filling and frosting easier.
Ingredient notes
As always, the fullย recipe cardย with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post! Keep reading for more details on each ingredient or skip ahead to theย recipe.
- Cream cheese - Use the cream cheese that comes in blocks rather than the spreadable kind that comes in tubs. Take it out of the fridge ahead of time to let it come to room temperature - it will be much easier mix into a smooth lump-free mixture.
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Milk - We'll add milk to the cream cheese filling to thin it out and use as the frosting. You only need a couple of tablespoons so use any dairy or non-dairy milk you have.
- Pecans - You only need a few crushed pecans to sprinkle on top of the cake for visual interest. I personally don't like nuts inside of cakes even though it's common to add pecans directly into carrot cake batter. You can do this if you prefer!
- Golden raisins - This may offend some people who don't like raisins in their baked goods but I LOVE them in this carrot cake. The raisins become juicy after soaking and baking so you get tiny bursts of sweet flavour in every bite. I chose golden raisins because their light colour blends into the carrot cake better and the light, delicate flavour is perfect.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground ginger
- Ground nutmeg
- Ground cloves
- Eggs - These should be at room temperature before using.
- Oil - Use any light-tasting oil you prefer such as canola oil, avocado oil, or grapeseed oil.
- Brown sugar - Brown sugar makes this cake extra moist with an amazing caramelized flavour that goes well with the spices and carrot flavour.
- Greek yogurt - This also adds a bit of fat and moisture to the cake to make it soft and moist. It should be at room temperature before using.
- Carrots - The star of the show! Finely grate the carrots with a medium grater.
Tips for making the best carrot bundt cake
- Take the time to thoroughly grease your bundt pan. The worst thing that can happen is baking a perfect bundt cake and then half of it gets stuck in the pan. I've always used the "butter then flour" method when greasing a bundt pan and the cake always plops right out without issue. Make sure you get into all the corners and edges of your bundt pan, especially if it has an intricate design or sharp corners.
- Soak the raisins in water. This is a simple but very effective step in making your raisins plump and juicy in the cake rather than dry and sticky. You could also soak them in something like rum or pineapple juice to infuse more flavour into them.
- Flip the cake out of the pan while it's still warm. This is important! Let your cake cool in the pan for about 30 minutes only. The pan should still be warm or hot (use oven mitts) when you flip the cake out. If you let it cool, the butter on the outside of the cake hardens, sealing the cake to the pan, making it difficult to release from the pan.
Storage
This carrot bundt cake can be stored covered (an upside down large mixing bowl works well) or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Since this cake contains cream cheese and milk, it needs to be refrigerated but it should be fine sitting at room temperature for a few hours. Gently warm it in the oven or toaster oven or let it come back to room temperature before eating.
Leftovers can be frozen in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for 2-3 hours before eating.
Frequently asked questions
Baking by weight is much more accurate than volume. When using US standard cups, ingredients like flour and sugar can easily be overpacked into the cup causing you to add too much of certain ingredients. Recipes with weight measurements are also easier to scale to smaller or bigger batches without dealing with weird fractions.ย To measure by weight, you simply need a kitchen scale which you can usually pick up for less than $20.
Small measurements are given in tablespoons and teaspoons because most kitchen scales are not accurate under about 10g. Tiny amounts like a ยผ teaspoon may not register accurately unless you have a drug scale. Mixing these measurements is a common practice among other recipe sites and commercial kitchens.
More bundt cake recipes to try
Recipe
Carrot Bundt Cake
Equipment
Ingredientsย ย
Cream Cheese Filling & Frosting
- 375 g cream cheese, room temperature
- 225 g powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ยผ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk, to thin out the frosting
- pecans, crushed, for topping
Carrot Cake
- 140 g golden raisins
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ยฝ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ยผ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ยผ teaspoon ground cloves
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 150 g light-tasting oil, e.g. canola oil, avocado oil, etc.
- 300 g brown sugar
- 125 g greek yogurt, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 300 g carrots, peeled & finely shredded (about 3 medium carrots)
Instructionsย
Cream Cheese Filling
- Mix until creamy: In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Use an electric hand mixer to beat until very creamy and smooth. Set aside while you prepare the cake batter.
Carrot Cake
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350ยฐF. Thoroughly grease a 10-cup bundt pan with softened butter, making sure to get into all the sharp corners and edges. Add a small handful of flour to the pan and knock it around the pan until the butter layer is completely coated with a thin layer of flour. Tap the excess flour out of the pan and discard. Set aside.
- Soak raisins: In a small bowl, add the golden raisins and enough water to cover them. Set aside to soak while you make the batter.
- Flour mixture: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- Egg mixture: In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, oil, brown sugar, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract. Use the same hand mixer to mix together on low speed until combined and smooth with no lumps of brown sugar.
- Combine flour and egg mixtures: Add the flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
- Fold in carrots and raisins: Add the shredded carrots. Drain away all the water from the golden raisins and add them as well. Fold together with a spatula until combined. Don't overmix.
- Fill pan halfway: Add about โ of the batter to your prepared bundt pan. I like using a cookie scoop to add the batter because it's easier to space out the thick batter around the pan.
- Cream cheese filling: Transfer about โ of the cream cheese filling to a piping bag and snip the tip off. Pipe the cream cheese filling on top of the carrot cake batter. Use an offset spatula to spread the cream cheese into an even layer. It's quite thick so just do it as best you can. Cover and store the remaining cream cheese mixture in the fridge until you're ready to frost the cake.
- Fill pan: Add the rest of the carrot cake batter on top of the cream cheese layer.
- Bake: Bake the cake for about 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. While it's still warm, invert the pan to release the cake onto the wire rack. Let the cake cool completely before transferring it to a serving dish and frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Thin out cream cheese mixture: To the cream cheese mixture, add a tablespoon of milk at a time and mix with a hand mixer until it becomes fluid enough to very slowly drip off the beaters. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and snip the tip off.
- Frost cake: Pipe the frosting on top of the cake. Grasp the serving dish the cake is on and tap it against the counter a few times to help the frosting drip down the sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top of the cake with crushed pecans.
Anonymous says
Can I switch the oil for brown butter? Thank you!
Hana says
Can i freeze the cake?
Daniela says
I did this cake today for my brother's birthday hope he likes it, I've adjusted quantities because I made a smaller cake but it tastes delicious
Mรณnica says
Exquisita y buena tรฉcnica
Marilyn K Clark says
Can I leave out the raisins and it be ok?
Gail Ng says
Yes!
Ricky Nelson says
Yummy