Carrot Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze
Elevate your dessert table with my stunning Carrot Bundt Cake, featuring a moist, spiced sponge and a decadent, silky cream cheese glaze. Perfect for Easter Sunday, spring celebrations, or a cozy afternoon tea, this cake is designed to be foolproof and extra moist. The thick, dripping cream cheese icing adds the perfect tangy finish to every spiced bite!
Equipment
- 1 Bundt tin
- 1 Pastry brush
- 1 Digital kitchen scales
- 1 Measuring spoons
- 1 Box grater
- 1 Large jug
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 1 Balloon whisk
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Wire rack
Ingredients
To prepare the bundt tin
- 1-2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1-2 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
For the bundt cake
- 180 ml (¾ cup) oil (I used vegetable oil)
- 160 ml (½ cup + 3 tbsp) buttermilk
- 100 g (½ cup) caster sugar
- 150 g (¾ cup) brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 375 g (2 ¼ cups + 1 tbsp) plain (all purpose) flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 0.75 tsp nutmeg
- 0.5 tsp cloves, ground
- 1 tsp (½ tsp if fresh) cardamom powder
- 410 g (about 5 ½ cups) carrots, grated
- 130 g (1 ¼ cups) walnuts, broken into chunks
For the glaze and decoration
- 80 g (¼ cup + 2 tbsp) cream cheese
- 300 g (2 cups + ¼ cup) icing (powdered) sugar, sifted
- 1-3 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 30 g (¼ cup) walnuts, to decorate
Instructions
For the bundt cake
- Brush the bundt tin with melted butter, ensuring you get into all the nooks and crannies and that you come up the sides high enough. Once the tin has been thoroughly brushed, sprinkle in a tablespoon or two of plain (all purpose) flour and rotate the tin, tapping as you go, to get the flour to stick to the butter. Once all the buttered part of the tin has a coating of flour, turn the tin upside down and give it a couple of firm taps to release any clumps of stuck on flour. Set the tin aside and preheat the oven to 170C/340F whilst making the carrot cake batter.1-2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, 1-2 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
- In a large jug or bowl, tip together the oil, buttermilk, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Whisk to combine, then set aside. Separately, grate the carrots and roughly break the walnuts into small chunks.180 ml (¾ cup) oil (I used vegetable oil), 160 ml (½ cup + 3 tbsp) buttermilk, 100 g (½ cup) caster sugar, 150 g (¾ cup) brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 large eggs
- In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), salt and spices, giving it a quick whisk together. Pour in the wet ingredients and gently whisk it all until mostly combined.375 g (2 ¼ cups + 1 tbsp) plain (all purpose) flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), 0.5 tsp salt, 3 tsp cinnamon, 0.75 tsp nutmeg, 0.5 tsp cloves, ground, 1 tsp (½ tsp if fresh) cardamom powder
- Tip in the grated carrots and walnuts and fold through using a spatula.410 g (about 5 ½ cups) carrots, grated, 130 g (1 ¼ cups) walnuts, broken into chunks
- Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared bundt tin, flattening once done and levelling the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes until springy to touch and a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
For the glaze and decoration
- Loosen the cream cheese by placing in a mixing bowl and stirring gently until smooth. This helps make combining the glaze much easier.80 g (¼ cup + 2 tbsp) cream cheese
- Add icing (powdered) sugar, 1 tbsp milk and vanilla into the bowl with the cream cheese and use a whisk to combine everything together until smooth. Add more milk as required to achieve the consistency of drip you prefer.300 g (2 cups + ¼ cup) icing (powdered) sugar, sifted, 1-3 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla
- Once the cake is cool, spoon or pipe the glaze over the cake, allowing it to fall into the crevices of the cake. Sprinkle with extra walnuts to decorate, then serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Make sure you have all tools and ingredients prepared before you start mixing: grease and flour the bundt tin, preheat the oven and get the ingredients out ready to use. It is easy to forget something and get flustered for it once you get started!
- Take your time getting the bundt thoroughly prepared. This is KEY to ensuring the cake released fully and to avoid any heartache of broken cake! Brush using melted butter not oil, as this allows the flour to adhere to the tin much better, and use a brush to ensure you have covered every inch of the tin.
- Once the tin has been buttered and dusted with flour, tap the tin upside down firmly a few times to remove as much excess flour as you can. This will make sure that the baked cake doesn't have clumps of flour baked onto the outside, which will spoil the look of the cake with white "patches" where there is excess flour.
- Do not overmix the cake batter once the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Overmixing will lead to more of a "gluey" cake texture, not the light and fluffy one we want instead.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before decorating with the cream cheese glaze. Decorating the cake when still warm will melt the icing and result in a messy end result (but it will still taste delicious, so that's something!)
- Use a good quality, full fat cream cheese in the glaze. Having tried many different brands and alternatives, I always come back to Philadelphia as being reliable and good to work with (and it tastes good too!)
Nutrition
Calories: 451kcal