Yield: 1 toasted carrot bundt cake // Total Time: 1 hr. 45 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.
I have recently fallen in love with bundt cakes and fair warning, plan on making a lot more in the future. This toasted carrot bundt cake features a tender and moist carrot cake, flavored with toasted walnuts, coconut and fresh oranges. The citrus and toasted walnut and coconut bring a unique and delicious flavor to the standard carrot cake. To top it all off is a brown butter cream cheese frosting. So many delicious flavors packed in to one bundt cake!
Recipe Notes:
Measuring the ingredients
My recipes are all written in grams because it is a more accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! Here is my favorite kitchen scale, and here’s an article about why I use a kitchen scale, and why you should too!
Room temperature ingredients
It is important that the eggs and cream cheese are at room temperature so that they incorporate properly with the rest of their ingredients. Take out the cream cheese and eggs at least 30 minutes before starting the recipe. If you are in a hurry and need some tricks to getting room temperature ingredients quickly, you can check out this post here!
Shredding the carrots for toasted carrot bundt cake
This recipe uses quite a bit of carrots and can be a little annoying to shred with your hands and a grater. I like to shred my carrots in a food processor to make the process super fast, easy, and with minimal shredded carrot mess on the counter. After washing and peeling the carrots, roughly chop them and add them to a food processor. Pulse together until the mixture is finely shredded, and then its ready to use! This is my favorite small food processor, which fits the amount of carrots in this recipe perfectly.
Ingredients and substitutions
All purpose flour: for structure.
Baking powder: for making the cake rise.
Ground cinnamon: for flavoring.
Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the cake. We will add a touch of salt to both the cupcakes and the cream cheese frosting
Vegetable oil: for making the cake moist and tender. You can use any other neutral oil, such as canola if that is what you have on hand.
Light brown sugar: for sweetening the cake, adding moisture, and adding depth of flavor thanks to the molasses in brown sugar.
Orange: You will need two medium oranges. We will use the zest and the juice from both oranges to flavor both the cake and the frosting.
Egg: for binding the batter, adding moisture, and leavening.
Carrot: for making carrot cake! Make sure you are using whole carrots, not baby carrots or pre-shredded carrots. Pre-shredded carrots do not contain the moisture that whole carrots do, and will dry out your cake.
Crushed walnuts: to add some texture to the cake. If you don’t like walnuts, you can feel free to do a 1:1 swap with a different nut, raisins, pineapple, or just leave it out!
Sweetened coconut flakes: to add some texture and flavor to the cake. If you don’t like coconut, you can feel free to do a 1:1 swap with raisins, pineapple, your favorite add-in, or just leave it out!
Cream cheese: for the cream cheese frosting.
Unsalted butter: To make brown butter for the brown butter cream cheese frosting. You can use salted butter, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the frosting.
Powdered sugar: for sweetening and thickening up the cream cheese frosting.
How to make brown butter:
Add the butter to a medium sized saucepan and place it over medium heat. Occasionally swirl the butter while it is melting. Continue cooking and occasionally swirling the butter until it begins to bubble up and turn amber in color. Once the butter turns amber and you can see little brown bits in it, remove it from the heat. Pour the mixture into a heat-safe bowl and place it into the freezer to re-solidify. Once it has solidified, remove it from the freezer and leave it at room temperature until you are ready to make the frosting. Brown butter adds a lovely toasty compliment to the toasted carrot bundt cake!
How to toast the walnuts and shredded coconut:
My favorite way to toast the walnuts and coconut is on the stovetop. Add the coconut and walnuts to a large sauté pan and occasionally stir the mixture around until the walnuts and coconut are visibly toasted. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready to use. Alternatively, you can place the coconut and walnuts on a lined baking sheet and bake them at 350°F / 175°C for 5-10 minutes, or until they appear visibly toasted.
FAQ for toasted carrot bundt cake
How do I store this cake?
Because the cake is frosted with a cream cheese frosting, it does need to be refrigerated. If possible, wait until serving to frost the cake so that the cake can stay at room temperature while the frosting is stored in the fridge. Because the cake contains oil in it, it should still stay nice and tender while in the fridge. The cake can safely stay at room temperature for up to 2 hours once frosted.
What size pan do I need for this toasted carrot bundt cake?
You will need a 12-cup capacity bundt pan. If using a smaller bundt pan, you can turn the remaining batter into cupcakes!
How do I prevent the cake from sticking to the pan?
I use and absolutely love this pan and have never had a problem with the cake sticking. To make sure your cake doesn’t stick, generously butter it, making sure to get all of the crevices. Then, generously pour some flour into the pan and shake it around so that it completely coats the inside. Tap out any excess flour.
Tools and ingredients
For a full list of tools, equipment and ingredients that I use and love, you can check out this page here.
Did you make this toasted carrot bundt cake?
If you made this toasted carrot bundt cake I would love to see and know your thoughts! Please leave a comment and review down below, and tag me on Instagram @freshbeanbakery. If you have any questions about the recipe I will gladly do my best to answer them in the comments below!
Toasted Carrot Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Carrot Bundt Cake
- 370 g all purpose flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. salt
- 315 g vegetable oil
- 370 g light brown sugar
- zest of 1 orange
- 35 g freshly squeezed orange juice
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 150 g crushed walnuts
- 60 g sweetened coconut flakes
- 315 g carrot peeled and shredded
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 140 g cream cheese room temperature
- 85 g unsalted butter
- zest of 1 orange
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 210 g powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Start by browning the butter. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks. Take the butter off the heat and let cool in the freezer while making the bundt.
Carrot Bundt Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan with butter and coat with flour. Set aside.
- In a large sauté pan or in the oven, heat the walnuts and coconut together until the coconut and walnuts appear toasted. Remove from the heat and set ~1/4 c. of the mixture aside for topping the cake, if desired.
- Wash, peel, and slice off the ends of the carrots. If using a food processor, roughly chop the carrots and then pulse them up in the food processor until they are finely shredded. Alternatively, shred them by hand using a box grater.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, and orange zest. Whisk in the orange juice and eggs until very well combined (~1 minute)
- Whisk in the grated carrot.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk the mixture together until only a few flour streaks remain. Add in the toasted walnut and coconut, and whisk just until no flour streaks remain.
- Pour the carrot cake batter into the prepared bundt. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting the cake to remove it from the pan.
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Remove the brown butter from the freezer. You will want it to be solid but room temperature.
- With a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the brown butter, cream cheese, orange zest, and salt until light and fluffy (~2 min.)
- Slowly beat in the powdered sugar in multiple additions until all of it has been used. Add in the orange juice and beat for an additional minute. Put the frosting in the fridge until you are ready to frost the cake.
- Once the cake has cooled and you are ready to serve it, frost it with the brown butter cream cheese frosting and top with the reserved toasted coconut and walnuts. Serve and enjoy!
Alison says
I love brown butter so definitely had to try this recipe. I made mini bundts to share with neighbors. They are amazing, thank you for the recipe!
Erin says
Ooo mini bundts sound so fun, thank you so much for making these, and I’m so happy you liked them!
Rada says
Erin I made it & it was a huge success everyone loved it
Thnx again 😘
Erin says
Thank you so much, I’m so happy you all enjoyed it! 🙂
Rada says
My mom is all about carrot cake so I think I’ll make this one for her as it looks so delicious 😍 I do have one question tho, do you think I can make it without coconuts?
Also, I’m really loving the browning butter part I think it makes the frosting standout more
Thank you 😘
Erin says
Hi! You can definitely make this without the coconut. I hope you enjoy it and would love to know your thoughts if you do end up making it! 🙂
Rada says
Thnx will be coming here for sure for the update