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These Baked Carrot Cake Donuts are warmly spiced, loaded with fresh carrots and a bit of wheat flour for nuttiness. These carrot cake donuts are moist, vibrant in flavor, and baked in 10 minutes. These sweet treats can be glazed with either white chocolate ganache or fluffy, tangy, cream cheese frosting. Then they are jazzed up with some gold foil for a 24 carat Easter treat that will brighten up your holiday morning. These baked carrot cake donuts are easy, quick, and so zany that you will be wanting veggies for breakfast everyday! These were also FeedFeed Featured!
My father-in-law loves carrot cake. He also loves Easter. He and my mother-in-law get so much joy out of hosting all the holidays for everyone. Every year the Easter bunny visits both our house and theirs. He is much more stingy over here, so of course the girls look forward to the basket from my in-laws house! They put on a big Easter egg dying party and then a hunt that ends with a big feast. So I know this Easter is hard on them especially.
Easter will definitely be different for everyone this year. But I’ve been trying to keep things as festive as possible for the kids. I also wanted to do something special for my in-laws since we won’t be spending the holiday with them. I made and porch-delivered these baked carrot cake donuts to lift their spirits in the best way I know how, through food made with love. And gloves in a thoroughly sanitized kitchen!
Baked Carrot Cake Donuts
These one bowl baked carrot cake donuts are fully loaded with flavor, texture, and just the right balance of cozy and cool. They take only minutes to put together and 10 minutes of baking time. Then a quick dip in icing is all you need for the most scrumptious carrot cake donuts.
Let’s start with the spice blend that packs a delicious punch and makes these the best carrot cake donuts. A special blend of warm baking spices add depth to every bite. These donuts are fully loaded with ground cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, and mace. Mace is stronger than nutmeg but has similar flavor. So since not as many people have it stashed away, feel free to use nutmeg instead.
For optimal carrot texture and distribution, grate your fresh carrots using a box grater. Use the side that will give you finer shreds.
This recipe makes 8-10 baked donuts, depending on how you fill up the donut pans. I always use a piping bag to fill the pans to ensure smooth donuts that bake evenly.
For these carrot cake donuts I used Sunflower Seed oil with a blend of AP and wheat flour. Please feel free to use any neutral oil of your choosing, like canola. Also, all AP flour works well. Times like these call for using what you have on hand. As always, email me if you need help with substitutions.
Donut Glaze
Whenever I make baked donuts I glaze them with a couple of different options. This is a fun way to bring the donut shop to your house during quarantine!
White chocolate ganache gives these carrot cake donuts a sweet, shiny, perfectly set top.
The cream cheese frosting gives a cool, luscious, creamy and tangy topping.
Both are delicious ways to top your carrot cake donuts.
Thanks for making these Baked Carrot Cake Donuts! Follow me on Instagram for food pics, fun polls, and exclusive recipe videos. Have a happy and safe Easter! XO… Sarita
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Baked Carrot Cake Donuts
These Baked Carrot Cake Donuts are warmly spiced, loaded with fresh carrots and a bit of wheat flour for nuttiness. They are moist, vibrant in flavor, and baked in 10 minutes. These baked carrot cake donuts are easy, quick, and so zany that you will be wanting veggies for breakfast everyday!
Ingredients
Donuts
- 3/4 cup finely grated carrots
- 1/4 cup sunflower oil or neutral oil like canola
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup All purpose Flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg or use ground mace
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 ounces butter softened, unsalted
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
White Chocolate Ganache
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
Donuts
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
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Lightly grease donut pans.
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Grate carrots and set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil with egg and vanilla.
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Then whisk in sugars and sour cream until smooth.
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Add the flours, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until smooth.
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Then fold in carrots.
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Put batter into a piping bag. Cut the tip of the bag so you have a 1/2 inch opening. Then pipe out the batter into donut pans.
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Bake for 10 minutes.
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As the donuts cool, make your glaze.
Glazes
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For the cream cheese frosting, use soft ingredients. You can use a hand mixer or a strong spatula for this. Mix the butter and cream cheese until no lumps remain. Then add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy. Spread over cooled donuts and decorate with any remaining carrot shreds or gold foil.
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For ganache, warm the cream and then pour over the white chocolate chips. Let it sit for 30 seconds, then stir until smooth. Dip the cooled donuts into ganache and put on parchment to set. Decorate as you wish.
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